THE 

ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN, 

&c., &c. 



THE 



ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN, 



NILE, RED SEA, and GENNESARETH, &c. 



A CANOE CRUISE IN PALESTINE AND EGYPT, AND THE 
WATERS OF DAMASCUS. 



By J. MACGREGOR, M.A. 

^5 




HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
1875. 

') 



,o1 



1^ 



TO 

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, 
THE COMMODORE OF THE CANOE CLUB, 

IS DEDICA TED 

THIS RECORD OF THE 'ROB ROY's' CRUISE ON ANCIENT RIVERS, 
LAKES, AND SEAS, IN BIBLE LANDS, 

BY 

HIS MOST DUTIFUL HUMBLE SERVANT, 

THE CAPTAIN. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK I. 

Suez Canal. — Port Said. — Lake Menzaleh. — The Start. — Eogues. — Sand- 
storm. — Bears. — Ismailia. — Crocodile Lake. — Murders. — Guy Fawkes. — 
Jackal. — The Canoe. — My Bed Page 17 

CHAPTEK II. 

Rameses. — Sweet Canal. — Bitter Lakes. — Strange Leap. — Red Sea. — Pha- 
raoh. — Camel Wading. — Wells of Moses. — Mirage. — Suez. — How to lose 
Money. — Shame! — Cairo Ragged Schools. — On the Nile. — Worship. — 
Paddle to the Pyramids.— Wild Boars 33 

CHAPTER III. 

The Nile. — Inundation. — Raising Water. — Watering Avith the Foot. — Rob 
Roy the Robber. — Catching the Canoe. — Livingstone. — The Delta. — The 
Seven Streams. — Delight of the Natives. — Fog. — ^Pigeons. — Potters. — 
Pumpkin Raft. — Fiddle and Drum 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

Nile and Severn. — Nile and Thames. — Bab el Hagar. — Misery. — Compass- 
card. — Mansourah. — King Cotton. — Shoeblacks. — The Zrier River. — A 
Water-puzzle. — A Run on the Bank. — Land of Goshen. — Wonderment. — 
Admirers. — ^Finding the Way. — TheMakalolo. — The Governor. — Start on 
Lake Menzaleh. — Living Clouds. — Mataryeh. — Legs of Ingleez. — Egyp- 



tian Lock , 62 

CHAPTER V. 

River Mushra. — "Field of Zoan." — Strange Creatures. — A Lost Needle. — 
"Fire in Zoan." — Qualms. — ^Flamingoes. — Rigs. — A Yarn. — Lubbers. — 
By Moonlight. —Fort Said. —Parting Shot. —Squall 83 



X 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Beyrout. — Massacre. — Good News. — Schools. — Bustle. — Blind. — American 
Mission. — Moslems. — Prince of Wales. — Agrippa. — Our Plag. — Prench 
Lake.—" Gratias." Page 97 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Over Lebanon. — Canoe on Wheels. — The Rob Roy in Snow. — Odd Quar- 
ters. — "The Young Lady." — Generous. — Zahleh School. — River Lita- 
ny. — Hanged. — An Eagle. — The Fiji. — Source of Abana. — In-doors. — 
Cats Ill 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Abana. — Sources. — Abana and Pharpar. — Their Names. — Canalettes. 
— Start on Abana. — Change to the Taura. — How to do it. — Pleasant Toil. 
— Procession 125 



CHAPTER IX. 

Damascus Dock. — Pretty Girls. — Eastern Desert. — Reconnoitre. — The Rob 
Roy on Horseback. — Latoof. — On Abana. — Celebrated Canoeists. — Brave 
Guards. — Tent-life. — Harran. — Mirage. — " Abraham's Well." — Plung- 
ing. — Ateibeh Morass. — " Ko-ax Ko-ax." 136 



CHAPTER X, 

Ateibeh Morass. — Drowned in the Lake. — Menagerie. — Embarking. — Dan- 
gerous Day. — A lonely Wold. — End of the Abana. — Retreating. — Christ- 
mas on the Abana. — Thoughts. — Northern Lake. — Mouths of the Abana. — 
Tell Dekweh. — Tell Hijaneh. — Hijaneh Lake, — Paddling to Bashan, — 
The Giant Cities. — Nimrim. — The Island. — In a Boar-track. — Chan- 
nel , 150 



CHAPTER XL 

Hijaneh Lake. — Jungle. — Plain of Pharpar. — Maps. — Bearings. — Off to 
Bashan. — Brak. — Stone everything. — Cut-throat. — Stone Gate and 
Shutter. — Mr. Bright, — King Og. — Paddle on the Pharpar, — Sources, — 
Adalyeh. — The winding Pharpar, — Damascus. — Spur of Hermon. — 
Ice 169 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Rukleh. — Bust of Baal. — Mount Hermon. — Kefr Kuk. — Hasheya. — Search, 
for Jordan, — Earliest Spring. — Jordan's Eye. — Sad Loss. — Leeches. — 
The Hasbany. — Wady et Teim. — Hasbany Source. — First Bridge. — Start 
on Jordan. — Colored Cascade. — Pitch-pits. — Jordan Vale. — The Litany. 
— Storm. — Dripping Bedroom Page 187 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Across Jordan. — Bloody Fray. — British Officers. — Our Ignorance. — Jordan's 
Streams. — Tell El Kady.— Dan. — Laish.— The Golden Image. — Sound- 
ing the Source. — Justice and Mercy. — Name of Jordan. — El Ghujar. — 
Hazor 208 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Banias. — Cassarea Philippi. — Cavern. — Josephus. — Three Streams of Jor- 
dan. — Phiale. — Our Saviours Visit. — The Great Question. — Peter.— 
Crusaders' Keep. — View from Subeibeh. — Anxious. — Mansoura. — Parlia- 
ment. — Catechism. — Costumes. — Nose-rings. — Water-ways. — Bright 
Eyes. —Enter Arabs 223 



CHAPTER XV. 

River Banias. — Strange Rock. — Afloat alone. — Riding. — "Waltzing." — 
Meeting of the Waters. — Pursued. — At bay. — Fired at. — Caught. — Cap- 
tive's Appeal. — Carried to Captivity. — Before the Court. — Sentence. — 
Taunts. — Revenge. — Escape » 247 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Chase resumed. — A Rascal. — The River. — Buffaloes.— Snakes. — The Bar- 
rier. — How to eat. — Prison Fare. — The Rascal again. — Voice of the 
Night. — Hurrah. — Riding high-horse. — Free. — Duty. — Cheap 262 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Mellaha. — Waters of Merom. — The Lake. — Raft of Bulrushes. — From 
above. — Puzzle. — Kedesh.— Start. — Arabs again. — Pelican -hunt. — Grand 
Discovery. — New Mouth.— Thunder. — Inner Lake. — ^Lilies. — Royal Sa- 



f 



xii CONTENTS. 

lute. — Breadth of Barrier. — Sixteen Swans. — Papyrus. — Its Use. — How 
it grows. — Bent by Current Page 277 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

On Hooleh. — Cutting a Cape. — Canoe Chase, — Hooleh Lake, — Jacob's 
Bridge. — Who crossed it. — Templars' Keep. — Grand View. — Jew's La- 
ment. — Ten Miles of Torrent. — Hard Times. — A Set of Ruffians. — The 
Worst. — At last.— All right. — Note on the Rivers 298 

CHAPTER XIX. 

"On deep Gahlee." — Bank. — Names of the Lake, — Shores. — Submerged 
Ruin. — Naked Stranger. — Lagoons. — Ports. — Beth saida Julias. — Oozing 
Streams. — River Semakh. — Gergesa, — A Pause. — Tell Hoom. — Keraseh. 
— Fete, — Search for Piers. — Submerged Remains, — Breeze. — Storm.— 
Searching below. — Curious Stones, — No Port, — Tabiga. — Bethsaida Bay, 
— Flocks and Shoals. — Genesareth 315 



CHAPTER XX. 

Bethsaida Beach. — Of old. — Evidence. — Bias. — Sermon afloat.— Stones, — 
Fishermen, — Ships and Boats. — Distinction, — An Explanation. — Present 
Boats, —The ' ' Pillow. "—Sailing-boat, —Fish, —Nets. — Hooks, —Cliff, — 
"Scorpion Rock," — " Capharnaoum " Ain et Tin. — Other Streams, — The 
Coracinus. — Other Fish, — The hot Springs. — The Aqueduct. — Josephus's 
Fountain. — At Tabiga 33S 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Apostles' Voyage. — The "Desert Place," — The Embarkation. — Direc- 
tion. — Position of the Ship. — The Weather and Waves. — Approach of 
Christ. — Action of Peter. — Arrival of the Ship. — Other Incidents,— Other 
Evidence. — " Exalted to Heaven," — Josephus, — Wounded, — Dimensions. 
— Testimony. — Thanks. — Maps 362 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Sea of Galilee.— Magdala.—Dalmanutha.— Ain Bareideh.— Tiberias,— The 

Jews, — Fast Travellers, — American Confessions, — Hoav to see England. 

A rainy Day.— Earthquake,— Shore south of Tiberias,— Hot Swimmers,— 
South-west Shore, — Night,— Joyous, — Size of the Lake, — Kerak, — Ruins. 
—Exit of Jordan, — Down Stream, — Molyneux and Lynch, — Farewell to 
Jordan ^81 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

In the Lake. — Strange Swell. — A Storm. — Submerged Ruins. — The "Herd 
of Swine." — Semakh Village. — Hippos. — High Sea. — Vale of Doves. — 
Long last Look. — Cana. — Nazareth. — Old Sights. — Sights unseen. — Plain 
Words Page 40 7 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Source of Kishon. — Megiddo. — Fords of Kishon. — Kishon's Banks. — Sis- 
era's Steeds. — Launch in a Storm. — Up the Melchi. — Meeting a Croco- 
dile, — What to do. — Feeling a Crocodile. — Flight. — Evidence. — Start on 
the Belus.— River Aujeh. — Farewell to the Jordan. — Across the Bay of 
Acre, — ' ' Ariadne. — Praise 429 



Appendix 

The Te-mple, London, November 5, 1S69. 



451 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



MAPS. 

I. The Delta and the Suez Canal To face Page 93 

11. The Morass of Ateibeh, near Damascus " 112 

III. The Abana and Pharpar| 

IV. The Lake ofHijaneh ) ' 
V. The Three Streams of Jordan " 220'^ 

VI. The Waters of Merom " 305 

VII. The Lake of Genesareth " 372 

VIII. Palestine (outhne and route) " 443 

WOOD-CUTS. 

[The Illustrations marked * are introduced into this edition from Thomson's "The 
Land and the Book."] 

Capture of the Rob Roy on the Jordan Frontispiece. 

The Shallows of Lake Menzaleh Page 21 

Night- Visitor on Crocodile Lake 29 

Dinner in the Sweet Canal 35 

Camel in the Red Sea 39 

Slave Children at Cairo 43 

The Barrage of the Nile 52 

Fisherman's Raft of Gourds 59 

Common Compass-card and Compass-card of the Rob Roy 6G 

The Land of Gosein from the Banks of the Zrier River 71 

Start on Lake Menzaleh in Egypt 78 

The "Pield of Zoan" 84 

Flamingoes taking Wing 88 

Night on Lake Menzaleh 92 

Beyrout* 9G- 

Street in Beyrout* 98 

Fountain at Beyrout* 101 

Blind Reading to the Lame 103 

Joppa* 108 

Crossing Mount Lebanon 113 



ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 

New School-house at Zahleh Page 116 

Bridge over the Litany* 117 

Eagle's Nest* 120 

Eiji Source of the Abana 122 

Gorge of the Abana near Damascus 132 

Pole Frame for the Canoe on Horseback 139 

A Plunge in Ateibeh Marsh 148 

Christmas Night on a Mouth of the Abana o..oo„.„o.o 157 

Bird's-eye View of the Lake of Hijaneh (outline) 162 

The Kob Roy in the Wild Boar's Haunt 167 

Hermon and Plain of the Pharpar „ 171 

Stone Door in Bashan 177 

Stone Shutter in Bashan 178 

Half a Mile of the Pharpar (outline) 183 

" Ain Rob Roy," under Mount Hermon 192 

Wady et Teim (outline) 196 

Jordan Source near Hasbeya (plan) 197 

General View of the Hasbeya Source of the Jordan 199 - 

The Vale of Jordan 204 

A Fish from the Hasbany 208 

Ard el Hooleh* 213- 

Jordan Source at Dan (plan) 215 

Cave at Banias* , 226 - 

Jordan Source at Banias (plan) 228 

Lake Phiale* 230- 

Neby Seid Yuda* 233 

Hooleh Morass, from the Castle of Subeibeh 237 — 

Heads of Three Hooleh Arabs 243 

Strange Rock in the Jordan (plan) 248 

"Waltzing" (plan) 250 

Capture by the Arabs of Hooleh 255 

Huts and Bull of Bashan 264 

Prison Fare in the Waters of Merom 269 

Raft of Reeds 279 

The New-found Mouth of the Jordan 287 - 

Papyrus Stems and.Roots 295 

Growth of Papyrus 297 

Bridge of Jacob's Sons* 302- 

Ten Miles of " the Descender" (outline) 307 

Jordan Mouth, Sea of Galilee 317 

Lagoon and Port, Butaia Plain — Lagoon 320 

Semakh River, near Gergesa : ' 324 



xvi ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Submerged Ruins near Tell Hoom (plan) Page 330 

Storm on the Sea of Galilee 331 

Coast at Tell Hoom, and Curious Stone in the Water 33o 

Fish traps near Bethsaida 34.". 

Galilee Fishing-boat 34'.' 

The " Scorpion Rock " (plans) 353 

Ruins of Tel Hoom* 373 

Lake of Tiberias, from the Baths* 380- 

Mijdel and Plain of Genesareth* 383 — 

Structure in Water near Bareideh (plan) 385 

Covered Passage in Sea-wall 386 

Tiberias and the Lake, looking to the North-east* 388 — 

Submerged Ruins along the Shore south of Tiberias 397— 

Exit of the Jordan, and Kerak (plan) 402 

Country of the Gergesenes, Sea of Galilee 413 — 

Last View of the Lake of Genesareth 417 

KefrCana* 420:- 

The New Protestant Chm'ch at Nazareth 422 

The Yale of Nazareth* 424- 

The Crocodile on the Kishon 436 

Haifa and Carmel* 441-^" 

Acre* 446- 

The " Ariadne's " Farewell 448 

APPENDIX. 

The Rob Roy Cabin < 453 

Bed— Bag— Bottle 455 

Canoe-wheels 45G 



THE EOB ROT 01 THE JORDAN, 

Etc., Etc. 



CHAPTEK 1. 

Suez Canal, — Port Said. — Lake Menzaleh. — The Start. — Rogues. — Sand- 
storm. — Bears. — Ismailia. — Crocodile Lake. — Murders. — Guy Fawkes. — 
Jackal.— The Canoe.— My Bed. 

At Alexandria we took off the carpet tliat had covered 
the " Eob Eoy " during her long voyage from England in 
the good ship " Tanjore." 

Her polished cedar deck glittered in the African sun, 
and the waves of a new sea played on her smooth oak 
sides. 

I stepped in light-hearted for a six months' cruise, and 
the first half-hour round the crowded harbor showed that 
the Moslems would be as kind in their welcome of the lit- 
tle craft as the ISTorsemen had been, and the Swiss, and the 
Indians of Ottawa in my other journeys. 

The dock-yard workmen ran to see the canoe, shouting 
in their scant attire. The sailors of a hundred vessels 
peered over their bulwarks to gaze at her dark blue sails 
and gilded silken flag ; even the lone sentry on the walls 
was aroused from his stare into nothing by the sight of 
the little English " merkeb " that skimmed over the sea so 
near to the breakers. 

A few days more, and the Eob Eoy came to Port Said, 
the bustling town of wooden shanties, new sprung from 
the sand at the mouth of the Suez Canal. No place so 
small as this has so large a variety of inhabitants. It is 
like a slice of great Nijni fair. 

B 



18 SUEZ CANAL. 

When the canoe touched the beach, the red man and 
the white ran to see her, and gabbled loud ; then she was 
borne on two negroes' shoulders to the " Grrand Hotel de 
France." Great interest was shown in the arrival of the 
smallest boat that ever journeyed in the East, and it will 
be entirely the fault of the narrator if her delightful voy- 
age does not fulfill the expectations of what has to be told. 
But, the first part of our journey being in Egypt, it has few 
of the dangers, the adventures, and the discoveries which 
will be found in her cruise over Syria. It was novel, in- 
deed, to paddle an English canoe upon the Eed Sea and the 
Nile, but what was seen there could be met with in other 
modes of travel. When, however, the Rob Roy essayed 
the Syrian lakes and the rivers and seas of Palestine, she 
entered on scenes never opened before to the traveller's 
gaze, and which were entirely inaccessible except in a ca- 
noe. These we are to meet farther on. Meanwhile the Rob 
Roy will be content to start at a slower pace and in easier 
navigation. 

The quick-witted officials of the Suez Canal Company 
are all day busy here about dredges and barges, and steam- 
ers and dusty coal-brigs, and no wonder they hailed with 
joy our new and dainty craft. They overwhelmed me 
with hospitality, explaining in voluble accents the wonders 
of the place, and barely concealing a suspicion that their 
guest was at least half crazy. A thorough examination of 
the Suez Canal was the first part of my long programme 
for this Eastern voyage, and the results of ten daj^s' care- 
ful observation were given in a letter to the " Times," 
which soon revived the question whether it is most diffi- 
cult to cut a canal, to keep it open, or to make it pay. 
Two subsequent visits to this gigantic undertaking enabled 
me to gauge its progress after months of interval ; but it 
would be tedious to refer to what is jyasse^ now that the 
canal is opened, and bishops can come through it to set- 
tle the new creed at Rome. 

A hole in the sand is an excellent place for sinking cap- 
ital. You can alwaj^s dig it deep if people will pay the 



PORT SAID. 



19 



diggers. You can even keep it clear if you pay dredges 
rather than dividends. When Europe or Asia or Africa 
is at war, of course the canal is closed, and the expenses go 
on, and the earnings stop ; but so far as concerns England, 
we have always got, at Aden, the cork of the other end of 
the bottle. 

The Suez Canal is open, and every body is pleased. 
President Lesseps has made Africa an island. For him 
and his shareholders our wishes are much better than our 
expectations. 

Whatever is to come, at any rate there has been brain 
and muscle hard worked here, and an iron will has ruled, 
and untiring energy has won great victory. Six years 
ago there was nothing at Port Said but sand, and even 
now the streets are nothing else. Men fire at seagulls 
among the shops ; pelicans toss upon the waves, and fla- 
mingoes fly above, and porpoises tumble in the harbor. 
Among these new friends the Rob Roy sailed over the 
water, and at the table dlwte all the visitors talked the 
whole time about her intended voyage from the sea of 
Europe to that of Asia and Africa. One gentleman was 
very positive in his description of her build and of her 
crew, for he had " actually seen the canoe and the man in- 
side it ;" yet he did not recognize me sitting opposite to 
him all the time. Another, a Belgian, was earnest in his 
praise of England, and said how hospitably he had been 
received, with other Belgian riflemen, at the Wimbledon 
shooting ; and the argument was closed by a general con- 
fession that " Les Anglais sont plus chic que nous." A 
Frenchman came to thank me for a little paper, "The 
British Workman" (in French), which I had given"^ to 
him at Havre last summer, just before leaving that port in 
my yawl for a voyage alone over the broad Channel to 
Portsmouth. 

* Good and harm may be done in this, as in other ways ; good by giving 
as a present ; harm by gi^ang as a rebuke. Critics were rather hard once 
upon this ready way of addressing strangers ; now their OAvn clever thoughts 
are daily proffered to each of us, eveiywhere. 



20 



SUEZ CANAL. 



Out of the cafe to pace the sand, and to ruminate on the 
rise of nations, we are challenged even here by little ink- 
faced urchins, who rush at the new traveller with "Black 
shoes, sare !" 

From Map I., at page 93, it will be seen that the canal 
at first goes through Lake Menzaleh, a vast expanse 
of shallow water, the accumulation of what trickles 
through the soft dikes along the Damietta branch of the 
Nile. The lake, being now full (in October), had ad- 
vanced its margin close to the town of Port Said. About 
six weeks afterwards, it was at nearly the same level, when 
I walked to see the " Gemileh mouth " of the Nile, some 
six miles west of the town, and where a fitful stream only 
sometimes overflows seaward. At my visit to Menzaleh a 
third time (in March), the lake had receded half a mile 
from the swampy flats, and at that dry season the fulfill- 
ment of the prophecy seemed most complete which tells us 
that the seven streams of the Nile shall fail. 

Later in the cruise we shall spend a pleasant week upon 
Menzaleh. 

Meanwhile, in search of adventure, we soon dragged the 
Eob Eoy over the sand - bank which separates the lake 
from the sea, and launched her upon the calm wide water 
that reaches away to a far-off horizon. 

The sun was hot, the water unruffled by the lightest air 
or any current, and there was nothing to betray the shal- 
lows round us even to a practised eye. Very soon, there- 
fore, the canoe got entangled in mud-banks, and the sharp 
little ragamuffins of an Arab village gladly perceived there 
was a new victim come for them to tease. 

They scampered out to me, naked and black, and a score 
of them were splashing and tumbling round the canoe, now 
helpless to run away. 

" Backshish !" was the first cry I heard in the East, and 
the last I heard there, after wandering long, was " Back- 
shish !" Their lithe limbs revelled in the tepid water, and 
their feet in the oozy mud. Their heads were like lit- 
tle cocoa-nuts, with only one hair-lock left at the top, for 



LAKE MENZALEF. 



•21 




THE SHALLOWS OF LAKE MENZALEH. 



Mohammed to hold them by at last. Their frolics were 
very forward, to say the least, but boys, black or white, 
must be humored to be ruled ; so I appointed the noisiest 
of them a "policeman," and paid him a month's salary in 
advance — one penny — for which he made the rest drag the 
canoe, with me in it, a long way cheerfully. At last I got 
out of the boat, and, wading in the soft mud, spoiled for- 
ever a pair of chamois shoes twenty years old, but never 
meant for use in water-work like this. Trudsfino: throuo^h 
the black slush, I dragged the Eob Eoy over a wall into 
deep water, but with a sad loss of dignity, and then launch- 
ed once more upon the old salt sea. It was charming to 
be danced on the swell of real ocean waves, and to shoot 
at the pelicans lifted on the foam, and to scud back under 
sail with a reef in my lug, and to race with the swarthy 
Nubians tugging at their oars. 

But, after a day or two here of this amphibiouslife, the 



22 



THE START. 



sights of Port Said bad all been seen, the workshops in- 
spected, and the huge machines of the canal. The last 
news from England had been read at the " cercle," and a 
farewell dinner finished with my new French friends. 
Then my heavy baggage was sent on b}^ water, and my 
" sea-stores " were embarked by the Eob Roy for our lone- 
ly cruise. The exulting delight of freedom possessed me 
once more with an access of joy Avhich had always come 
soon in mj voyages, and never ceased to the end. 

And yet I can not say that it would be wise to. begin 
one's canoeing in the East, or to begin in the East by ca- 
noeing. 

Over and over I felt the great advantage of having made 
already three tours in these hot latitudes ; and often there 
was full need for the shifts and plans for safety, speed, 
or comfort, which had been shaped by the experience of 
three former journeys afloat entirely alone. 

The wind to-day is from the north, and thus right in my 
favor. The French officers crowd around as the canoe is 
launched, now heavy with provisions for four daj-s. Her 
topsail swells with the breeze as we glide from the shore, 
and the Egyptian sailors shout, " All right !" in English, 
nodding their shaven polls. Nothing could be a happier 
start, and we were soon skimming swiftly on tlie smooth 
canal, which here runs perfectly straight for nearly thirty 

* The -first of these Eastern tours was in 1849, through Palestine, Greece, 
and Egypt, etc., of Avhich some account was published in "Three Days in the 
East,"' and in " Eastern Music." The solitary cruises were described in "A 
Thousand Miles in the Eob Eoy Canoe" through Central Europe; ''The 
Rob Eoy in the Baltic " through Northern Europe ; and " The Voyage Alone 
in the Yawl Eob Roy " to Paris, and in the English Channel. AYhen a man 
has to tell by the pencil and pen what he has done Avith the paddle, it is im- 
possible to be othenvise than individual and personal in the narration, or 
even egotistical in style. It would be affectation not to avow that one is 
sensible of this : but it A^-ould be pedantic to try an escape from the inevita- 
ble by using the woid "we " instead of " I " in the story. Those who write 
anonymously, and can abide by the good custom of using the impersonal 
" -we," Avill be best aAvare of the double protection they enjoy from any such 
tendency to become na'ive in their expression, and they can understand hoAv 
it may be better for an author to be open to the charge of simplicity than to 
that of unnatural reserve. 



ROGUES. 



23 



miles, while its banks vanish on the horizon in dim and 
trembling perspective. It is but a short voyage to-day, and 
begun in the evening, with no work to do but to steer and 
to look at the high banks on both sides, like two railway 
viaducts, five hundred feet apart ; at the steam dredges rat- 
tling their wheels and chains, and the coal-boats lazily tow- 
ed in a line, and the pretty fleet of small craft all pressing 
on with me, crowding white-bosomed sails, and laden with 
merry songs. 

The sky glows softly as the sun sets in red, and the 
white moon rises full. By its bright shining on the waters 
of cold Lake Menzaleh, we draw up the Eob Eoy ashore 
on the bank, in the loneliest spot to be found, near Ras 
el Esh, and soon my " canoe cuisine " is boiling Liebig's 
soup, and bread and wine fill up the carte of dinner. 

The fish are leaping in the moonbeams now. They 
often jump into the little steamers on the canal, and a fish 
had leaped right across my boat as she started ; but there 
is no other noise. Wrapped in my great brown cloak for 
the night, I now take a last look about me to see that no- 
body is near. For sleeping quietly, the main thing is to 
be quite alone, and on this Suez Canal all strangers may 
safely be distrusted as rogues, for the number of murders 
in its neighborhood is altogether unreasonable. 

Under the moon, then, we could see only long rows of 
water-fowl on the silent lake in regiments gleaming white, 
so I wrapped my thick cloak around me and turned in, then 
lighted a beautiful little oil lamp"^ (presented by Colonel 
Staunton, the Consul-Greneral at Alexandria), and opened 
a page of the " Times." 

With all these comforts about me I passed a miserable 
night. The place. I had chosen so carefully turned out to 
be only a heap of refuse, and it is swarmed with angry flies, 

* "With much trouble I had devised a "canoe candle-lamp," ^veighing 
only five ounces ; but the oil lamp mentioned above answered far better for 
many reasons, at least in countries where oil can always be had. This lamp 
had been obtained at the Paris Exhibition, and its extremely clever construc- 
tion made it useful on a hundred occasions afterwards in the voyage. 



24 



SAND-STORM. 



SO very minute, and so inquisitive or hungry, that the 
mosquito-curtains of my cabin were no bar whatever to 
their entrance. 

The moon is, indeed, very pretty to look at, and proper 
to sing to in rhyme or blank verse; but its pale light 
shows no color in objects, and so, for selecting night quar- 
ters, give me in future the truth-telling rays of honest Fa- 
ther Sol. 

ISText morning at four it was not cheerful to breakfast 
only on a cigar, until I could catch a boat and buy bread 
from a funny little Greek. But a Frenchman hailed me, 
and his wife brought out some excellent coffee, and both 
were intensely polite and conversational as they handed 
the sugar-tongs into the canoe. 

At Kantara the canal cuts through the old Arab track 
over the desert, and by which I had travelled years ago on 
camel's back, and the name of the place — meaning " bridge " 
— reminds us that here was once some wet lagoon simmer- 
ing its tepid fever in the reeking sand.^ 

There I stopped Sunday, and slept in a little wooden 
shed. A furious storm whirled up the arid plain, and di- 
shevelled the face of nature and dimmed the sun in heaven. 
The landscape, to look upon, was now one vast yellow 
sand-cloud, with men and camels faintly floating in a fog 
of dust, without any horizon. To paddle against this hur- 
ricane next day was impossible, but I towed the canoe by 
a long cord girt round my waist. Even the mosquito-net, 
double-folded over my face, quite failed to keep out the 
drifting sand ; and the few wayworn travellers who passed 
when the Rob Eoy was made up for the night under the 
sheltering bank might well look amazed. A wholesome 
fear of the strange creature they saw was all in my favor, and 
often in this journey I traded on the belief that the cow- 
ard and the superstitious are not seldom the same person. 

* When our Saviour, as a child, was taken into Egypt, the road would, no 
doubt, pass this place. From Josephus we learn how numerous were, the 
Jews in Egypt then, and that their worship was more pure in Es;}'pt than in • 
Palestine ("Antiquities of the Jews," book xiv. chap, vii, sec, ii,). 



BEARS. 



25 



Wild dogs, not exactly jackals, for their tails were erect, 
generally chose the night hours to call upon me, and some- 
times travellers belated did the same. The white-robed 
Rob Roy, whiter under the moonlight, must have puzzled 
them greatly, and so long as they argued in whispers out- 
side I let them alone, but there was a pistol ready all the 
time in my bedroom, and I always had the (unfortunate) ca- 
pacit}' of instantly waking at the slightest noise. 

For several days a curious group of beings had exactly 
kept pace with the Rob Roy — three brown men leading- 
three brown bears. One bear was old, another was blind, 
the third was very frisky, but the men insisted upon all 
of them bathing in the water exactly at noon, about the 
very last thing a bear would like to do, and it was great 
amusement to watch their struggles, remembering the gross 
indignities offered by the bathing- woman to every one of 
us when he was a British bab}^ 

One pitch-dark night, when I ought to have reached El 
Gisr,* the sand-hills were high, and I could not find the 
place. At length, after paddling back and forward a mile 
or two, I went to a barge, where loud singing told of in- 
mates. When my paddle tapped on the window a man 
came out, and offered to find me lodging, but, after some 
parley, he seemed so drunk, and evidently such a villain 
when sober, that it would never do to leave mj^ canoe with 
him ; so I paddled on, and slept in my cabin as usual, but 
with no dinner or supper, and frequent visits at midnight 
from very strange folks. This place is noted for ruffian- 
ism, f 

There was ample variety in the scenery or circumstances 
of each da}^ to make it extremely interesting to voyage thus 
here once^ and it was an excellent preparation in many 
ways for the more difficult times and places that were to 
come. Amono^ other thing's, I was able to make numerous 

* "The bridge." Another bridge must have been here to give it this 
name, 

t The Greeks had the worst character by universal consent — inchiding their 
oyra.. The best men in the canal I found were Austrian s. 



26 



ISMAILIA. 



experiments with my boat, and all her multifarious fittings, 
of which a full list and description will be found in the 
Appendix. Her pace I tried repeatedly in calm water, 
without current, and where all the kilometres were marked 
by posts on the bank ; and this trial was extremely useful 
afterwards when we (the Kob Eoy and I) had to measure 
the lakes and rivers where no man had been before. 

Thus it was found that the canoe, being in heavy sea- 
trim, and going at the pace one can easily keep up for eight 
hours a day, would paddle 5^2 yards, with 100 double 
strokes (right and left), in five minutes. This pace, it will 
be seen, is not four miles an hour, but then it can be kept 
up for months, carrying both food and lodging and comforts 
all the way. Current and wind are to be so used as to add 
to the speed and diminish the work.* 

In the midday hours the heat was excessive, and I rested 
then in some shady nook under a mud-barge, or, hauling 
the canoe ashore, I reclined by its side on the sand, with 
the sun behind the blue sail. The cooler hours were spent 
in progress or in visits aboard the numerous steam-dredges 
which kept dragging, scraping, and shovelling the mud of 
the desert on each side over the new bank, and this by such 
very ingenious contrivances, and on so gigantic a scale, 
that there was enough every hour to study and to admire. 

The Kob Eoy was next housed at Ismailia, the half-way 
town of the Suez Canal. All the men here, and animals, and 
the shrubs and pretty flowers^ depend for life upon the fresh 
water brought from the river Nile along the " Sweet Canal." 
Another branch of this gives water to Port Said by an 
iron tube,t with open troughs at intervals to drink from, 
as the traveller rides or walks a weary fifty miles along 
the bank, or sails in the salt water of this enormous cut. 

* This is, of course, for a travelling canoe, which hears the same relation 
to a fast canoe as a hunter does to a race-horse. Our fast canoes can go a 
good pace, also, for a long journey. The last "twelve-mile race" of the 
Canoe Club was accomplished with the tide in eighty-five minutes. Xo man 
in a row-boat could keep up with a canoe in strange rivers for a week. 

■'■ If this tube were once possessed by an enemy, Port Said M'ould be with- 
out fresh water, and the sternest garrison in it would be forced to yield. 



CROCODILE LAKE. 



27 



A railway from Ismailia to the west had been opened 
only a few weeks. The station is the largest in the world 
— the desert. The rails themselves end on the bare sand, 
and the "station-master" occupies a little bell-tent. Passen- 
gers waited for the next train, which was to start " about 
four o'clock," that is any thing up to six. There was no 
platform, so they placed their bundles on the sand, and 
friends took leave of one another as if they could not ex- 
pect to meet again alive. Certainly it was a strange sound, 
the guard crying " Now, then, for Kameses !" Then he 
looked at each man's ticket, a long paper crowded with 
Arabic writing, and all of them lay down in a row under 
the bales of goods — guard, engineer, ticket-man and passen- 
gers, and most of them were soon fast asleep in the shade. 

Ismailia is like a hot-house without the glass, and all the 
life in it is exotic. The sun's heat and the Nile's fresh 
water fructify the arid sand itself into a beautiful tropical 
verdure. Embosomed in this are French cafes and hillards, 
with Arabs' huts and camels — the sign-boards on booths in 
Grreek, and Turkish, and Spanish, and American ; ateliers 
resounding with hammer and cog-wheel ; and tents full of 
half-dressed savages chaffering uproariously; and hoidevarcls 
thronged by the second-rate fashion of a French town plant- 
ed, and growing fast, too, in the veritable desert. Beside 
it lie the shores of the Lake Timsah, " Crocodile Lake," 
which had a few pools when the canal was begun, but now 
it is filled with brackish water. 

Only fresh-water shells are to be found in Lake Timsah, 
and the crocodile does not live in salt water. These facts 
seem to confirm the idea that a fresh-water canal existed 
here, and Glynn considers that the town of which there 
are ruins at the end of the Bitter Lakes, and which must 
have had a fresh-water canal (indeed, relics of it still re- 
main), may have been destroyed by the same upheaving of 
the land which dried the lakes themselves.^ 

* A canal from the Nile to the Eed Sea was begun 2400 years ago, and a 
branch of it went to Pelusium, in the Mediterranean. The "Bitter Lakes'' 
were then navigable for small craft. About twelve centuries after that the 



28 



MURDERS. 



I rashly determined to spend a night on this lake, and 
launched the Eob Eoj after sundown, with rod and line, 
net, deep-line, bait, flies, and trawling-hooks ; after sailing 
everywhere until the wind died out, I took to fishing in 
four ways at once. The moon beamed brilliantly after 
midnight, and my little lamp, fastened on the canoe so as 
to be protected from the paddle by my knee, glittered on 
the water, and a hundred flies kept dancing round it al- 
ways. I plied every means in my power to catch one fish, 
but did not get one single bite, and sad disasters happen- 
ed to my gear. 

The deep-line ran out overboard. The bait melted away 
without a nibble, my rod slipped into the water unper- 
ceived, and the " spinner" of my trawling-line got hooked 
in some rocks below. Wet and disappointed, I sought an 
island to sleep upon, for the shores of the lake were quite 
unsafe. In the preceding week two murders had been 
perpetrated; only one murder had come off in the present 
week, so it was still one below the average, where any man 

canal joined the Nile near Cairo, and the navigation was kept open for 120 
years. Napoleon I, resolved to revive the scheme long disused in practice. 
The Bitter Lakes were, doubtless, once a portion of the Red Sea. The ma- 
rine shells found at the bottom of the lakes and those of the Red Sea are iden- 
tical. These shells are to be seen on the sides of the lakes, and even on a 
raised beach, which is now above the level of the Red Sea. The ridge be- 
tween the end of the Red Sea and the Bitter Lakes consists of tertiary strata, 
the fossils of which are identical with those of the London basin and of the 
hill of Montmartre, near Paris. "Egypt, England, and France are conse- 
quently of the same age." — "Glynn on the Isthmus of Suez," and discussion 
on the paper (Minutes of the Institute of Civil Engineers, vol. x. session 1850- 
.51). In Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible" (article " Red Sea"), it seems to 
be considered that the Red Sea once extended to Lake Timsah, and receded 
thence, fulfilling prophecy (Isaiah xi. 15 ; xiv. 5 ; Zechariah x, 11). To my- 
self it seems that the high land at El Gisr would be an effectual bar to an ex- 
tension of the Red Sea beyond the Bitter Lakes. The project for a salt-water 
cut from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea has been a long time under con- 
sideration. In 1830, General Chesney reported upon the subject, and Mr. 
Stephenson and others in 1817. The concession to the present promoters 
Avas granted in 1851, and the work was to be finished in six years. After- 
wards, it was arranged that the " Sweet Canal" was to belong to tne Egyp- 
tian Government, but the French may use it for naAngation until the end of 
1869. 



GUY FAWKES. 



29 



with five francs, or supposed to have them, is worth kill- 
ing, and there is no pohceman X, and no coroner summons 
his jury of quest. 

The lake is girt by little hills of purest sand, a few 
shrubs perish by the margin, but farther back are rich deep 
jungles, full of water-fowl and small game — a perfect larder 
for the wild beasts of the bare desert around. 

Under a sandy hill I grounded the Eob Eoy, and rigged 




NiaHT-VISITOB ON OKOOODILE LAKE. 

out her nightly cabin. Chill air and wet garments soon 
made me shiver under the cold moon, but I did not know 
then that this is about the worst fever-spot in Egypt. There 
was not fuel enough for a fire, but I lit up my Russian 
cooking-lamp, and this warmed the cabin wonderfully. 
Poor, however, were my pyrotechnics for this the 5th of 
November, yet it is well to remember Guy Fawkes. To 
my great surprise, although it was on an island, a visitor 
came, and he would not be denied an interview. He was 



80 



JACKAL. 



only a jackal, and the conversation was entirely on bis side, 
as he screamed his shrill cr}-, and would neither leave me 
in peace nor come near enough to be shot. The savory 
smell of hot supper, perhaps, found the poor beast desper- 
ately hungry. Next morning, on a return visit, I traced 
him by footsteps to his den, but he would not come out. 
Then to recover the lost fishing-rod I visited every cape, 
and bay, and beach, and reedy fen, and ston}^ islet, where I 
had fished or walked upon during the night before. All 
these features appeared so difi:erent now in broad daylight, 
and at the very last place of all the rod was found, and with 
every hook still floating in the water. 

At Ismailia, now again all safe, there met me the brave 
and faithful companion of my future journey, Michael Hany, 
well known to me as my dragoman in 1849, frequently 
trusted since by large parties sent to his charge; most wel- 
come now as the man without whose aid I could scarcely 
have ventured to take the Eob Eoy through the journey 
we are about to relate. 'My old friend was delighted with 
the new boat, and all her fittings had to be thoroughly ex- 
plained to him. Perhaps this may be a good time to men- 
tion them briefly here. 

The new canoe, named Eob Eoy, like the other two, is, 
of course, fitted with every improvement suggested by for- 
mer experience or kind hints from the two hundred members 
of our Canoe Club. She was specially built for this voyage 
(by Mr. Pembery, of London), and is probably the smallest 
vessel ever launched in which one can travel long and far, 
and sleep at the end in comfort. ^Moreover, she is strong 
and light, portable and safe, a good saiier, and graceful to 
behold. 

The Eob Eoy is 14 feet long, 26 inches wide, and one 
foot deep outside, built of oak below and covered with ce- 
dar." A water-proof apron protects me from waves and 
rain. Her topmast is the second joint of my fishing-rod, 
and a third joint is ready in the stern. Her sails are dyed 

* Minutijfi in her constraction, and details interesting specially to paddlers, 
are given in the Appendix. 



THE CAXOE. 



31 



deep blue, an excellent plan, for it tempers the glare of the 
Sim, and is more readily concealed from the Arab's eve. 
The blue-bladed paddle is the same that T^as wielded in 
Sweden over many a broad lake ; and though an inch of its 
edge had been split off by an upset of the canoe from a 
runaway cart in a Korway forest, yet I loved my old pad- 
dle best of them all. To sleep in the canoe I always go 
ashore, and work her backward and forwaiTl on the beach 
nntil the keel is firmh' bedded for a good night's rest. Is ext 
we form a little cabin less than 3 feet high, and more than 
6 feet long, and then having inside the gauze mosquito-cur- 
tain, and over all a strong white water-proof sheet, 6 feet 
square, and drooping loose upon each side, we are made up 
snug, and can defy all kinds of weather. A "post-ofl&ce 
bag," very light, but completely water-proof, has held our 
clothes during the day, and now it becomes a pillow. The 
bed is 3 feet long, and 14: inches wide, quite long enough 
for all one cares about, and no complaints were heard of its 
being too broad. It is only the shoulders and hips that 
really require a soft mattress if the head is pillowed too ; 
as for the rest of one's bodj^ it doesn't matter at all. When 
travelling under hot sun, I place this bed behind me, with 
one end on deck, and the middle of it is tied round my 
breast, so as to bring the upper end just under the long 
back leaf of my sun-helmet, which is of pith and felt com- 
bined, a head-dress lately introduced by Tress, and entirel}' 
successful, for I wore it during about seven months, and 
neither rain, nor sun, nor duckings in salt waves, ever alter- 
ed its lightness or good shape. The bed thus becomes an 
excellent protector against sun-stroke, and it was especially 
useful when my course was north, and my back was thus 
turned to the sun. Often I went ashore with the bed still 
dangling from my waist behind, while wondering natives 
gazed at the "Giaour" with his air-bag tail. The bed was 
useful too when I sat upon wet sand, or grass, or gravel, 
and it was always a good life-buoy in case of an upset.^ 

* This and all other fittings were made at Silvers, of Comhill, where each 
of the foiu- Kob Eov cmises had its outfit. 



32 



THE CANOE. 



Every timber in the boat bad, of course, been carefully 
placed, so as not to interfere with my comfort in sleeping, 
or to catch the shoulders, elbows, hips, or knees while turn- 
insc in bed. In fact this canoe was built round me reclin- 
ing, as my first one had been built round me sitting — in 
each case recognizing the one great principle, far too often 
forgotten, that a comfortable boat, like a shoe or a coat, 
must be made for the wearer, and not loorn down to his 
shape. 



RAMESES. 



33 



CHAPTER 11. 

Rameses. — Sweet Canal. — Bitter Lakes. — Strange Leap. — Eed Sea. — Pha- 
raoh. — Camel Wading. — Wells of Moses. — Mirage. — Suez. — How to lose 
Money. — Shame! — Cairo Ragged Schools. — On the Nile. — Worship. — 
Paddle to the Pyramids. — Wild Boars. 

Hany had brought a tent and a cook, and these a lug- 
gage-boat carried, while the canoe went westward by the 
Sweet Canal to spend the Sunday at Rameses. 

The French seem to have settled it, to their own satis- 
faction at any rate, that this place is rightly named. It is 
now a dreary " wady " in the bleak desert, and a walk 
from it far away on the burning sand found for me only 
more loneliness. Yet hereabouts the Israelites must have 
lived in their Egyptian bondage. A railway passes near, 
and affronts our dreams of antiquity by its iron print of 
progress ; and, worse still, the thin wires of the Egyptian 
telegraph, curving from their naked posts in the desert, 
seem to jar upon a half-sacred, half-poetic sympathy with 
the long-buried past. These little threads, never quite si- 
lent if there be but the faintest breeze to make them " hum " 
— a strange yet well-known music — are the nerves of the 
earth, running over land and under seas, and speeding the 
thoughts, of the world through all its great round body. 

I sat down in the desert under my white-topped um- 
brella. Only a little black spider seemed to be alive on 
the black gravel. The sand-hills in the distance quivered 
in the sunlight, or gently floated for a while upon a sea of 
liquid nothing in the bright mirage. Pictures came for- 
ward to the inner eye of fancy : crowds of Israelites, laden 
with jewels and kneading- troughs ; countless cattle trudged 
along; a half - frightened, half- escaped multitude, begin- 
ning that wonderful walk of forty years. By the Sweet 
Canal the Rob Roy sailed again southward, and, hoisting 

O 



84 



BITTER LAKES. 



her topsail to the pleasant breeze, she kept pace well with 
the luggage-boat, which was wafted along by her tall and 
graceful lateen. 

Brilliant meteors shot across the sky at night, but softly 
the stars hung out their spangles, and the moon slowly 
rose. Then it was silent and cool and delicious for sleep : 
so far removed from the barking dogs of towns, and with 
only the wild jackal's scream, which is plaintive, clear, and 
not unmusical, but rather lulls to slumber. A rumbling 
in the distance came nearer as the express train rattled up, 
jingling, and swaying its red light like a great beast's 
angry eje. 'No wonder the Arabs ran up the bank to look 
at the hissing, pufiing monster, and murmured a prayer to 
the Prophet as they came back amazed. Two active, mer- 
ry Nubian lads were with our luggage-boat. They seemed 
never to weary or to quarrel as they towed her along with 
ripples simpering under the bows, and the red English en- 
sign lazily fluttering against a sky of purest blue. One of 
the lads had all his wealth on his back — a shirt most un- 
commonl}^ brief. 

Sometimes, for a change, I lounged on the soft carpets 
in the stern, while the Nubians towed both our craft in the 
midday heat. Dinner was cooked on shore by Hany, and 
my table was set in the boat, while Sleman, the waiter, 
handed the dishes as he stood impassive in the cool water 
between us. 

In this way we visited the Serapeion, and then Chalouf, 
where ten thousand men were hard at work, and a thou- 
sand donkeys and steam-engines and railways, all trying 
their best to hollow out the huge gap in the desert which 
by this time is filled with salt water, and floats the ships 
of the world from sea to sea. 

Then came the vast hollow, called now the Bitter Lakes, 
where the sea has been rushing in for months to quench 
the thirst of many hundred years since water was here be- 
fore. 

As we passed this wide tract, the salt upon it glistened 
bright and dry. Men were loading huge white blocks of 



S^EET CAXAL. 



35 



it into boats moored along the Sweet Canal, which here 
skirts the edge, and on a much higher level. There seems 
to be scarcely a doubt that all this hollow was part of the 
Eed Sea when Moses led the people to it, and that over 
this very tract the Israelites passed. 

But the canoe has no special work for it here, and all 
this can be seen from a camel or on foot. It was pleasant 
enough to sail over, but a very inactive voyage. So much 
is to be told of livelier work in the bounding waters of 




DIICrEK IX THE SWEET CAXAL. 



Palestine that we must hurry through this slow canal, and 
even the Eed Sea and the Nile, so as to reach the mount- 
ains and lakes and rapids, where discovery is open, and 
adventures are sure to be met. 

"We were now descending from the level of the Nile to 
that of the Eed Sea, and so there was a lock to pass through. 
Many boats were waiting for the Turkish officials to open 
the gates, but these lazy fellows meant to keep the boats 



36 



EED SEA. 



there all niglit. Our red ensign, however, soon stirred 
them np, and a few kind words persuaded the guards to 
let all the boats into the basin. At least a hundred pas- 
sengers were on board one of these floating boxes, and all 
of them had to debark until the lock was passed. Then 
w^hat a rush there was to get aboard again, pell-mell ! and 
to secure the most comfortable places and softest boards to 
sleep upon in the cold. 

Fish leaped and splashed in the still evening always. 
Once, in the midda}^, a man shouted to me to approach the 
bank, for he had a letter from Suez ; so I moved the canoe 
to the shore, and, after reading the letter, I put it into my 
breast-pocket, when at the same moment a beautiful little 
fish leaped from the water into my pocket with the letter. 
The bystanders shouted eagerly at this as an undoubted 
sign of " good-luck;" and I had the fish broiled for dinner, 
occupying the centre of a large flat dish. The extreme 
length of the fish was under two inches, but the happy 
omen from it lasted among my men for months. 

At Suez we camped, and next day (Xovember 12) the 
Rob Eoy was launched upon the Red Sea."^ At the north 
end this arm of the sea runs up a crooked channel, where 
the variable tide of about six feet is magnified b}^ the con- 
tracting bends, and very difiicult currents whirled the ca- 
noe about uncertainl}^ 

There is a ford across this twisted channel, nearly at the 
mouth of the Sweet Canal; and an island opposite Tell 
Kholzum, where the ford is, still bears the name of Jews' 
Island. The ford is not often passable, except at low wa- 
ter ; and here it is that local tradition seems to place the 
passage of the Israelites. The water now filling up the 
Bitter Lakes indeed reminds us how they were once part 
of the Red Sea.f After considering all that I saw of the 
land and water, and what is believed to have been its 

* The name "Eed" aiDplied to this sea may signify the sea of the "Eed 
Man ;" or it may refer to the red coral reefs, or to the very brilHant hues of 
the rocky shores -which are noticed farther on. 

t Eobinson's "Bibhcal Eesearches " (1841), vol. i. p. 72, 



PHAKAOH. 



37 



ancient condition long ago, I think tlie weight of evidence 
is much in favor of the opinion that the Israelites crossed 
at or above Suez."^ 

The other place assigned by many for the miracle is 
much farther south, and where the water would be more 
than a hundred, feet deep on the occasion of the passage, 
and at least ten miles across. . Among other objections to 
this theory are the following : — 1. The east wind would 
not have caused the water there to recede. 2. The water 
on each side of the dry passage would have been sixty or 
seventy feet high, which would rather have been styled a 
" mountain," whereas it is repeatedly called a ivall on ei- 
ther side. This latter expression is quite intelligible when 
used, for a heap of water even eight or ten feet high (and 
in the Bitter Lakes it would be thirty feet), and that depth, 
when the waves returned, would be quite enough to over- 
whelm the Egyptians. 3. One night would not suffice for 
the first and last of the long column of such a host to walk 
so many miles, nor would the women and children be able 
to do it. 4. It does not appear that Moses had special di- 
rections to go far south, and the natural desire of escape by 
the shortest way would lead him to the more northern part. 
5. The relative positions of hills, valleys, and the sea itself, 
strongly favor the idea that the host passed over above 
Suez. 6. Pharaoh, coming from Zoan, would hasten his 
army to the upper end of the Eed Sea (then farther north), 
and so bar the passage by dry land ; and the subsequent 
" turnings" of the Israelites, as mentioned in the Bible ac- 
count, would all be more intelligible. 

The splendid range of Attaka rises grandly on the Afri- 
can side of the Eed Sea, and the steep bare rocks glow 
ruby red in the setting sun. The ships of England, France, 
and Egypt rest on the smooth bosom of the ba}^, and the 

* In Smith's "Dictionaiy of the Bible" (article "Eed Sea"), the passage 
of the host seems to be placed about thirty miles north of Suez. The Avord 
"Pihahiroth" is said to mean a reedy place, and there is still much jungle- 
morass near Lake Timsah. The Septuagint has the word "south" wind 
where the A.Y. reads "east" wind; but it is said to include a Avind several 
points oflf the E. towards S. E. 



4 



38 "wells of MOSES." 

Bob Koj dips her paddle-blades for the first time in bright 
waters of the south. 

I paid a visit to the " Malabar," one of the magnificent 
troop-ships which, with the " Crocodile " and "Serapis," on 
the other side of the Isthmus, carry our regiments back 
and forward for the Indian reliefs. All the sailors were at 
once in love with the canoe. As for the captain and offi- 
cers, they were profuse in their kindness. The visitors at 
the hotel, too, insisted on having a regular lecture and ex- 
planation of all her fittings, and a crowd of on-lookers 
hedged her round for the occasion. The gallery was filled 
by ladies and children from India with their native nurses. 
The Hindoo servants of the hotel stared with large black 
eyes from beneath their raven silky hair. Greek, Turk- 
ish, Italian, and French sailors, with Indians and negroes 
of every shade, up to the jet-black woolly pate of Central 
Africa, peered over the others' shoulders, and three Chinese 
sailors smiled at every thing. 

Next day we started on a Eed Sea voj-age. A clumsy 
native boat took the luo-cyao-e about ten miles down the 

CO O 

eastern shore, to rig up the tents at Ain Moosa, where the 
"wells of Moses" spring up with refreshing sweetness 
from a desert of dry rock and illimitable sand. 

In a fine fresh breeze — indeed, almost a gale — the Kob 
Eoy scudded here over a very high swell, until she came 
to the luggage-boat, now aground in the fallen tide, and a 
camel was in the water unloading our gear. 

More than a mile from the present shore, and on the 
highest point of the district round, but on what may have 
been the ancient coast-line once, fresh water, constant and 
copious, bubbles up, overflows into the sand, and sobbing, 
as it were, with a few fitful gushes now and then, loses its 
glittering stream in the ever-thirsty desert. About fift}^ 
feet farther down, water appears again in a pool about six 
feet wide, under one lonely, tall, and weather-beaten palm- 
tree. Not far off this, Arabs have dug about a dozen pits, 
in each case finding water, which is ladled up with a leath- 
ern bucket, and supplies the life-giving moisture to grow 



EETUEX TO SL'EZ. 



39 



many trees and garden plots, while bleating sheep and 
cackhng fowls soon gather about them too. The long- 
stepped, silent camel marches past in his caravan, stately 
and tall, and the Arab sings a plaintive song. The sea- 
bird shrieks as he wends his way aloft to the crags far 
over the waves, and oar little boat is soon left alone by the 
unrippled beach, like a dead thing thrown there by the 
sea. • 




CAMEL IN THE BED SEA. 



After two pleasant days here, the Eob Eoy paddled back 
to Suez quietly in about three hours of a lovely morning. 
The clear water showed below bright sand and rocks of 
all painted hues, with patches of colored coral. Dipping 
my arm down, I grasped a beautiful shell as a trophy to 
bring home. The flying-fish rose here and there in a shoal 
at my paddle-blade, and danced along the tops of the little 
glittering waves, flashing light from their silver scales ; 
and then, fresh and quivering with life, and after a glance 
at the sun-gleam of the morning, and most beautiful to see, 
they vanished. 



MIRAGE. 



Far off were the huge war- vessels, pictured above in tbe 
vapor and below in the sea, and twisted by mirage into 
weird and wonderful forms. Sometimes a great frigate 
would disappear from sight entirely ; then a huge steamer 
would suddenly rise in the air, and mount up silently 
above a sailing-vessel's deck. All these views were in- 
creased in grotesqueness by the nearness of mj^ eye to the 
water's surface. The whole scene had an air of enchant- 
ment which one can never forget, and there was a solem- 
nity given to it all by the perfect noiselessness as the pano- 
rama changed. The Eob Eoy hovered here a few minutes 
to look on this marvellous spectacle. Her bows were in 
Asia, her stern was in Africa; her crew had the mingled 
thoughts of years of travel — such thoughts as can not be 
seized for confinement in a cramping chain of words. 

The hotel at Suez has a very motley mixture of nation- 
alities rushing through it to all parts of the world. There 
is, of course, a regular tide of passengers, rising full for a 
a day in each week as the Indian mail comes in, either that 
from home or the other from the East ; and next day all 
of these are on the wing again, either gliding over the sea 
to the Indies, or fast speeding home over the sand. Though 
most of these passengers are English people, yet tbe man- 
ners and appearance of the outward and of tbe homeward 
bound are very different. 

The mail-train to-day has filled all the corridors of our 
hotel with passengers straight from England, tbe faces of 
many blooming with youth, and others freshened up for 
another spell of service by a year's leave at home. Theii* 
talk is of the latest London news and the Ba}^ of Biscay, 
and their big strong boxes and new portmanteaus will all 
stream out again to-morrow into that barge b}^ the quay 
for loadino' to Bens-al. 

ISText day tbe living tide is rushing in from the distant 
East, from India, and Hong Kong, and Nagasaki, and the 
Australian mail. Tbe clothes of these are well worn, almost 
threadbare, and their "puggeries" are ample and business- 
like round their hats ; their faces are pale or careworn, or 



SUEZ. 



41 



even haggard, and their fretful children battle on the stairs : 
pretty, and with brilliant eyes, but no bright English roses 
on their cheeks. What country but Britain could stand 
for ten years the exhaustive draught that India makes upon 
our health and energy ? Many of the men who are thus 
turned into scarecrows by the heat and dust of that great 
empire will always deserve, and they do, indeed, obtain, 
full credit from all Englishmen at home for their brave and 
hardy work in the sun so long and so far away. 

The cafes of Suez are a wretched jumble of East and 
West, combining the worst features of both. Better by 
far is that rude African dance of negroes and feathers and 
tom-toms in the open square, where the wildness of the 
savage has poetry and fitness in his outlandish yell. Let 
us leave Suez. 

This is to be done by the railway to Cairo. Did ever 
any one see such a terminus as this ? The door is locked^ 
the guards inside are snoring, loud batteries on the wooden 
window wake up the clerk at last, and he makes no toilet 
for his mornino: work. Our boxes, and tents, and bundles, 

O 111 

are tediously weighed on a rusty steelyard, which will tell 
any weight you please according to your purse. The Eob 
Eoy itself is weighed, almost blushing at the indignity, and 
half an hour after the train is to start, we bustle all these 
things in. Of course there was no room in the carriage spe- 
cially provided for the canoe. We had been foolish enough 
to take tickets instead of paying backshish to the guard. 

My fellow-passengers laughed at this my. greenness — 
" We never buy tickets," they said ; " give five francs to the 
guard, he gives one to the engine-driver, and one to the 
station-master at the end, and you can then go anywhere 
you please." 

This is what the viceroy gains by working a railway, 
while the fell plan of "backshish " reigns in his flat and 
sandy kingdom.^ But though I had thus paid £6 for tran- 

* I was assured, on good anthovitr, that a million sterling is lost thus each 
year to the viceroy. Unless it had been declared by several passengers that 
to bribe Avas their custom, I should not say so thus distinctly. 



/ 



42 SHAME ! 

sit, it was better than to sell one's honesty even dearly, and 
yet it was only at the last moment, and after regular battie 
for the point, that I could thrust the Kob Roy into a huge 
box, called a third-class carriage. There we tumbled over 
an entangled mob of miserable natives sprawling on the 
floor, for there were no seats, in a mess of pumpkins, and 
babies, and filth, and we tied the canoe against the windows 
— the open spaces, I mean — along the sides of the travelling 
shed. 

At Zag-a-Zig there was a change to another train. Ev- 
ery body scampered off with his bundles, and a downright 
scramble began for places in the new carriages. 

Entreaties here were vain, and so were threats. The 
whistle was shrieking, but it was just one of the times when 
to do the thing yourself is the only way to do it. There- 
fore I carried my boat in my arms, and shoved her right 
into a carriage already full, and tied her again to the side, 
and, what was most strange of all, not a single person pro- 
tested, or said he would write to the " Times." 

Cairo I had seen well years ago, and, at any rate, now is 
not the time to paint in words that gorgeous picture in the 
East. 

Yet there were many changes here in twenty years: 
knocking down, building up, opening out, planting, fenc- 
ing, painting, cleaning, almost civilizing, the old Egyptian 
capital. 

Great gangs of workmen are all day toiling here at re- 
construction. Puny children, herded in flocks by cruel 
task-masters who flog them with long sticks, are carrying 
on their heads straw baskets full of earth and stones. As 
they march they sing ; but it is in a rhythm of slavery. 
The strongest repression of one's feelings is scarce enough 
to keep us from knocking that wretch over who has just 
belabored with his bludgeon a tender little girl ; but this is 
Egypt, the product of idolatry, of philosophy without real 
religion and the Bible ; and yet this is not half so bad as 
England would become if left to "philanthropy " without 
the love of God. 



CAIRO RAGGED SCHOOL^ 



43 



The evening brings a short relief even to the woe of these 
hapless little ones. Then they sit round in a circle with 
their baskets before them, while the roll-call is droned over 
by a task-master who can read. The little sketch here 
given records this curious scene. 

And can nothing be done for these poor little babies, 
starved in mind and soul, slaved in muscle and life ? Shall 
so many hundreds of happy English "Christians" hurry 




SLAVE CUILDEEN AT CAIEO. 



past here every month to the work, the wealth, the honors 
of the East, without one effort to comfort or to teach the 
dark nation they pass by ? 

One brave British woman at least has nobly answered 
this, and has planted here the " Cairo Eagged School." 
Many as I have seen of schools, none struck me more than 
this, and a long and pleasant morning was well occupied 
in those cheerful classes, among those grateful little faces, 
however poor, and pinched, and wan — and with those 



4.4 



ox THE NILE. 



bright teachers whose prayers and labor will have most 
certain fruit.* 

But besides the young in Cairo, Miss Whately cares too 
for the ignorant old Arabs, even in the desert. Only one 
who knows their waj^s and their language — a woman — a 
lady, a cultivated mind, and a tender loving heart, could 
win room here amid the sand for the ever-advancing 
Gospel. 

My tent at Boulak, the bustling port of Cairo, was placed 
close to the water, and the Eob Eoy was launched into the 
Yellow Nile. Long lines of native boats were here with 
lofty yards pointing up into the blue sky. Splendid " da- 
habeehahs " for the European traveller s use vied in their 
brightest paint and gaudy flags. I stopped at one of these, 
and a dragoman I had met years ago hailed the canoe, and 
handed a cup of hot coffee as I ranged alongside. On the 
other bank were steamers, moored head and stern, in a far- 
reaching line. Many of these were the viceroy's yachts, 
with trim sailors lounoins; on the bulwarks, and the re- 
fleeted sunbeams sleepily weaving on their upturned open 
ports of rich plate-glass. 

Staid and passive as the Egyptians are, they stared as- 
tonished at the little merkeb."f The word was passed 
along — some outlandish w^ord of their own — and all eyes 
were set upon the Eob Eoy, slowly moving towards them. 
Turning a point of land, I came upon soldiers at their 

* The girls gave me a little sample-piece of veiy quaint and pretty needle- 
work (the same on both sides). People in London "who Avisli to add tasteful 
colors to their drawing-room tables, and to cheer up the hearts of tlie teach- 
ers and children in Cau-o, Avould do well to bur some of the neat and original 
patterns copied in this school. The little girls thus taught to embroider get 
better husbands by the accomplishments added to their chai-ms, so the time 
spent on the work is not lost, but veiy well bestowed. The school Avas begun 
eight years ago. In September, 1869, there were 170 boys and 75 girls at- 
tending. The Prince and the Princess of Wales kindly risited the place. In 
1819, I A-isited the Ragged School at Siout, for up the Xile, where little Cop- 
tic children Ayere taught good doctrine and practice. This is the tOAA'n AA^herc 
It is belicA-ed that our Sayiour liyed AA-hen He was a child. 

t A boat is called " merkeb,'' and so is a camel — " the ship of the desert." 
The Ayord is applied to any thing you mount upon for travel. 



WORSHIP. 



45 



prayers. Of course I advanced softly, not to disturb them 
as they went through the regular kneeling, vsitting, stand- 
ing, kneeling again, and all the time muttering, with a look 
at least of intense and simple devotion. The Rob Roy 
came upon them suddenly, and they could not but see it 
in the field of vision, however straight they gazed away. 
Yet not one single glance was directed to the canoe. I 
doubt whether such a new sight could be thus received by 
people worshipping in any church in Europe. 

It is a curious comparison that one makes in visiting the 
places of worship of different nations. Once I was in St. 
Peter's, when a new saint was being added to the calendar 
(next year it would be a new miracle, and the next a new 
doctrine, for the oldest thing in the Romish Church is to be 
always adding new bits of stucco and plaster to the stone). 
By good fortune I had a place very near to the Cardinals, 
who were all on their knees, Dr. Wiseman among them, 
and they passed from hand to hand a goodly snuff-box, 
while they were in this sacred act of devotion. The Pope 
alone of all seemed to be really devout. 

To come to Egypt again and look at the Moslems there. 
I had an interview at the viceroy's palace with a pasha, 
one of his cabinet. In the waiting-room there was a Turk, 
a fine old gentleman, patiently sitting until his turn might 
come for business. But suddenly he rose and began his 
afternoon prayers upon the royal carpet, and he went on 
and on entirely undisturbed. I will give one more in- 
stance. At a far-off island in an Egyptian lake, a crowd 
of men were round the governor, who had brought them 
in a large boat to welcome the Rob Roy. There was 
scarcely standing-room for the excited visitors, 3^et on the 
deck and amid them all was one who had spread out his 
carpet and kneeled for his prayers, and he prayed on this 
boat in this bustle as if it were the quietest of private chap- 
els in the world. 

The Mohammedan has a very plain and majestic ritual. 
His mosque has no idols, or pictures, or ornaments, or pews, 
but on a carpet, or a mat, or on the floor, he kneels before 



46 



PADDLE TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



God. Indeed, he needs no cburcli to pray in, no image to 
adore, no book to read, no priest to offer his petitions. 
The hour of worship comes, and wherever is the man there 
is his place of worship. On a ship's deck he spreads his 
carpet and kneels down. The stone-mason bows his fore- 
head on his white marble block. The Arab kneels under 
his camel's shade while the sun is scorching the desert 
about him, and the shepherd bows adoring amid the green 
grass of the hills.* 

To pray thus before men — a characteristic of outward 
religion — is all the more easy if it does not clearlj' signify 
that the worshipper is yielding what is asked by the de- 
mand, "My son, give me thine heart." 

As the Eob Eoy neared the water-palace of the Isile, so 
prettily posed upon an island, the watchful guards cried 
loudly to her to keep off. The life of the viceroy had been 
several times lately attempted, and the orders to his guard 
wwe now rigorous. But I wished to approach, though no 
boat is allowed to come here. To their shouts I shouted 
" Ingleez,'' and at length an of&cer was called who courte- 
ously told me in French that, being an Englishman, I 
might go where I pleased. A little time after this the 
palace was honored by the presence of the first gentleman 
of England, the Commodore of the Canoe Club. 

Glorious old pyramids ! it is you I see over the palm- 
trees, pointing your peaks to the sky. 

" A paddle to the Pj^ramids!" 

Can there be any two words so little and so great to- 
gether? It seems, indeed, a desecration; so the Rob Eo}^ 
floats back to her tent. 

The jumble of barbarism and civilized life at Boulak 
w'as almost distracting. Camels grunting, and the rudest, 
nudest natives squatted on the ground, while yet a railway 
engine near us, built in Manchester, shrieks out with warn- 

* Buckingham (p. 92) savs that he saw. near Ras el Ain. two Arab women 
at prayer on the road, and that he "had never vet, either in Turkey. Eg^i^t, 
or Arabia, seen a woman thus employed." I noticed a woman pra^nng in 
public upon one occasion, but only one. 



WILD BOARS. 



47 



ing whistle, " Clear the line!" The Turks care very little 
about clearing any line if they are walking upon it, and 
every body here saunters between the rails at pleasure; 
men will even ride donkeys on the " four-foot way," and I 
have several times done it myself here, while the " down 
express " whisked by. As evening falls there are thick 
swarms of very large hornets hurrying to the water. It is 
wonderful how soon one gets used to these formidable- 
looking visitors, but when they are not teased they appear 
not to do any mischief In the dark a shot was heard, and 
a bullet came through my tent. From my bed I asked 
what was the meaning of this note of emphasis, but the 
only answer was, " Somebody is firing at the wild boars.'' 
They would be as likely to find wild boars in Piccadilly as 
at Boulak. 



48 



THE NlLEc 



CHAPTER III. 

The Nile. — Inundation. — Eaising Water. — Watering with the Foot. — Rob 
Roy the Robber. — Catching the Canoe, — Livingstone. — The Deka. — The 
Seven Streams. — Delight of the Natives. — Fog, — Pigeons. — Potters. — 
Pumpkin Raft. — Piddle and Drum. 

To descend the Nile, we now hired as a luo^o-as^e-boat a 
very clumsy craft, with her top streaks plastered some 
inches thick of mud. The three men of the crew were not 
promising in appearance. They were hired by the day, 
and the wind was in our teeth, so the canoe could run 
round and round them under sail. But energetic argument 
accomplished a little with this stolid crew, and the stream 
of the Nile runs steadily here and fast. 

A few facts may be jotted down that bear upon the 
country we are sailing in. The average amount of rain in 
Egypt is very small : forty days at Alexandria, seven at 
Cairo, and two or three at Assouan. The land, therefore, 
would never bear green things but for the Nile that brings 
water from far-off melted snow, and with this laves the 
rich soft loam which settles on the surface of the exhausted 
land, and makes it ever new again.* The Nile begins to 
rise in Jul}^, and is highest in the end of September, when, 
at Cairo, it is from 17 to 28 feet above its lower level. 
After. this it gradually lessens again until June.f 

The river at Cairo, when in flood, is about 70 feet higher 
than the sea, with a fall of about 5^ inches per mile, and a 
velocity of 5 feet in a second. In "low Nile" the fall is 
only 3^ inches per mile, and the velocity 19 inches a sec- 
ond. Thus the current is not sufficient to turn hydraulic 

* The plain of Thebes has been raised about twenty feet by the deposit 
from the Nile inundations since the temples were erected there. 

t Last summer (in 1869) it sank lower than for 150 years before. On Oc- 
tober 10, an extraordinary inundation occurred ("Times," Oct. 27, 1869). 



INUNDATION. 



49 



engines at the time they are most required. When at its 
lowest, the surface of the water is below the banks at the 
mouth about 4 feet, at Cairo about 16 feet, and Assouan 
(in Nubia) about 33 feet. The water in flood overflows 
Upper Egypt, but in the Delta it is restrained by high 
banks. 

To use the inundations properly for agriculture, the 
water must be conducted to the plots of ground quietly, and 
so as not to tear them up by any violent current. Then it 
must rest, in order that the rich deposit may be precipita- 
ted, and when one level is watered thus the channels to an- 
other below can be opened. The water is led from the full 
Nile by numerous canals. Mehemet Ali paid great atten- 
tion to this subject. He opened up again many of the an- 
cient canals, and made cross-dikes in Upper Egypt, and 
strong banks along the two branches of Damietta and 
Eosetta, so as to control the irrigation of the Delta. Arti- 
ficial irrigation has to be employed during the five or six 
months of the crops growing, and when the Nile has sunk 
far the labor of raising water is considerable. 

A small proportion of this watering is done by the sha- 
doof. This is a leathern basin, slung from a long pole, which 
is mounted on pivots, and balanced by a stone or counter- 
poise of clay at the other end. The basin end is depressed 
by the laborer until it dips into the water below, and, being 
freed, it is raised by the counterpoise until the leather basin 
comes level with the upper channel, into which it is then 
emptied, and the operation begins again. The men at this 
work are swarthy fellows, nearly nude, and singing a wild 
not unmelodious song. Sometimes two are alongside ; 
sometimes one above the other, when the water is raised by 
stages. For filling with water any canal or pond quite 
near the river's level, the leathern basin is not slung to a 
pole, but by four cords held by the hands of men facing 
each other, who dip the bucket and swing it full to the 
level above. One or other of these men usually leans 
against a mud bank, but seldom both of them. I have 
seen some hundreds of these at work close together in a 

D 



50 



EAISING WATER. 



gang of men and women, and they were always very good- 
humored whenever the canoe came near. 

The irrigation of wider tracts of land, requiring a copi- 
ous stream of water, is effected by hydraulic engines of 
more or less simplicity. 

The " sakieh " was used, as now, in most ancient times, 
and consists of a wheel turning on a horizontal axis, and 
carrying an endless rope of hemp or withes, upon which are 
earthen pots so placed as to dip into the lower water, and 
to be carried up as the wheel revolves until they empty 
themselves successively into a shallow trough at the 
higher level. Sometimes, instead of jars on a rope, there 
are buckets, or compartments like boxes, in the hollow rim 
of a wheel, the lower part of which dips into the water and 
fills the buckets, and these empty their contents above 
through one side. Wheels of this sort and others are 
worked by oxen, horses, camels, buffaloes, mules, or asses, 
which move in a circle, turning round a horizontal frame, 
in the centre of which sits a boy or a woman to flog the 
animals. In the ruder forms of this machine, where 
wooden pegs answer for cog-wheels, much power is ex- 
pended in friction. Much water also escapes by leakage, 
or bad adjustment of the upper flow, and a loud splash- 
ing noise generally tells how a large proportion of 
what is raised only falls back again through bad adjust- 
ments. 

Wheels turned by men's hands and legs acting in uni- 
son are sometimes used in the East to wind up buckets 
from wells, but I never saw one employed for irrigation. 

Eobinson (vol. i. p. 542) thinks that this was the mode 
of watering alluded to in Deuteronomy xi. 10 — " For the 
land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land 
of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst 
thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of 
herbs." But as we constantly see men watering land in 
Egj^pt at the present day by opening and closing the 
canalettes of mud in their fields with their feet, it is 
surely to be presumed that this more general characteris- 



WATERING WITH THE FOOT. 



51 



tic is referred to rather than the use of a particular ma- 
chine."^ 

A steam-engine, working the best hydraulic pumps, may 
now be seen in very many places, sometimes in those ap- 
parently most out of the way. These, however, were more 
employed when the cattle disease made animal power dear, 
and when the cotton culture became less lucrative, and 
steam-engines then were more at liberty, on account of the 
cessation of the American war. The steam-engine and the 
" sakiehs " often work night and day, and the sound of 
night labor in the East jars upon the wonted stillness and 
soft darkness. Music accompanies the watering, whatever * 
be the mode employed. The sakieh, with its ungreased 
rickety axles, groans, rattles, and creaks with painful regu- 
larity. When the harmony stops, by the blind ass going 
to sleep, the laborer in charge of it is sure to be awakened, 
but he is generally too lazy to do more than to hurl a 
threat or a brickbat at the resting brute. The steam-en- 
gine pants with its hot strong breathings, and the men at 
the shadoof whine a vagrant music in no particular key. 

About half of the area of the Delta is cultivated, and to 
water about one-fifth part of this it was estimated, in 1849, - 
there were 50,000 sakiehs in operation (each emplojung 
three oxen), and managed b}^ 25,000 men. 

Of course the canoe was soon out of sight of the boat, 
and when, after sixteen miles, I came to the Barrage^ at the 
fork of the Delta, I ran through speedih^, at my very best 
pace, lest the crowd that came might send a shower of mud 
from the high walls above. There was noise in plenty, 
but I heard only one faint cry of "Monsieur!" from an 
irate ofSicial, and I was too much occupied to heed this 
while gazing upon the splendid bridge before me, which 
was built to head back the Nile water for thirty miles ; be- 

* Xiebuhr, in 1776, mentions ha^-ing seen only one machine turned by 
hands and feet at once ("Voyage in Arabia,'' p, 12). Thomson ("'The 
Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. 279) does not agree with Robinson's 
The wheel tunied by the cmTent of the river Orontes is not. I think, to be 
been on the Lower Jsile. 



52 



CATCHING THE CAXOE. 



cause even a few inches more or less of water flooding the 
land means hundreds of thousands of pounds gained or 
lost from the fertilized soil. 

Mj luggage-boat came to the Barrage long after me, and 
she was detained two hours because the canoe had not 
been "inspected^' by the douane. The dragoman and the 
crew were brought before the governor, and a very angry 
man he was. " I insist on your bringing- the small merkeb 
back, that I may see it." "We can not, my lord, it is 




miles awav." ^' Who is in it?" "An Englishman." 
"One?" ''"Yes, by the Prophet! one." "Impossible! 
He must be a robber escaping; bring fetters for these 
men." And chains were soon at hand. "Ob! my lord, 
we did not know the rule." " Catch the canoe, then,_ or go 
to prison." " Xot a boat on the Kile can catch it, my 
lord." Two witnesses were then produced who swore 
they had seen the canoe, and that it was only the size 



LIVINGSTONE. 



53 



of a large fish, but that it "flew like a bird." Finally, the 
Rob Roy was rated at half a ton's burden, and heavily 
taxed, and all this time she was far off, quietly in a shady 
nook, while I wandered over the lovely sand in the 
charming day, inspecting the plants, birds, .fish, and deep 
rich loam, and waiting to see the English ensign of my 
luggage-boat flutter in the distant horizon. 

Meanwhile I made a sketch of the Barrage. This great 
work was resolved upon in 1843, and begun in 1846. It 
acts as a long gate or weir across each of the two forks of 
the river, at the point of the Delta. The portion across 
the Damietta branch is about 600 yards long, and that 
over the Rosetta branch 500 yards. The weir consists of 
arches each of 16 feet span. Of these there are 72* upon the 
Damietta branch. On the branch to Rosetta there are 62. 
Mehemet Ali diedf before any progress was made with 
this scheme, and his successor resolved to continue only 
the barrage proper without the canal, which formed its 
most important feature. At present it appears that the 
work has been entirely useless, and it is considered that, if 
any attempt were made to dam back the Nile by closing 
in the structure at high flood, the river would sweep away 
the whole mass together. 

Until this point the Nile has run in one stream, and for 
a thousand miles of that without a tributary, pouring on 
towards the sea its gracious waters, whose birth is so far 
away, even (shall we not yet know it?) at "Lake Living- 
stone.":^ But the river now divides into two great branch- 

* My dragoman counted 74, but this, no doubt, included the two arches 
ashore. The other dimensions given above are taken from "Annales des 
Fonts et Chausse'es," 1851, p. 161. 

t The traces of what this wonderful man, Mehemet Ali, began in building, 
in works of irrigation, in agricultural improvement, as well as in administra- 
tion and foreign conquest, are already almost like old ruins of the Pharaohs. 
His amazing energies came not from the lotus-eaters of the Nile. He was 
"no true Ottoman Turk, but rather a Seljakian Koniarat of Cavalla " (" Sat- 
urday Eeview," June 26, 1869). 

t At Suez I met the foreign correspondent of the "New York Herald," 
who was waiting there to receive Dr. Livingstone, then expected every day. 
This active little Yankee had accompanied the armies of India, Sadowa, and 



54 



THE DELTA. 



es, and the triangular shape of the country embraced be- 
tween these and the sea at the end is called the Delta, 
from its resemblance to the Grreek letter A, answering to 
our D. I have voyaged along both branches of the river, 
but I do not feel able to say which of them has the largest 
volume of water. The left branch going towards Alexan- 
dria, has its mouth near Eosetta. The right branch, down 
which the Eob Eoy is to sail, flows into the sea near Dami- 
etta. About the mouths of both these branches are large 
swamps and lakes. One of them — Lake Moeris — had long 
been dry, until the sea was admitted by the English army 
to protect Alexandria from Bonaparte and the French. 

The other great lake is Menzaleh, near the eastern 
branch, and where our paddle is to ply in a day or two 
among the flamingoes and pelicans. 

The boats on the Nile are truly picturesque. To catch 
the breeze over the lofty banks, the long lateen sail lifts 
its pointed head high up in the air. No rig is so graceful 
as this. One sees it on the Swiss and Italian lakes, the 
Ehine, and the Danube, and (in a modified form) all 
through the Levant ; but by far the largest lateens are in 
the Delta of the Nile. Some of these have yards 150 feet 
in lengtho The sails are often striped with a gore of blue 
cloth, and delicate streamers are waving, or the sailor's 
charms like necklaces dangle from the farthest peak. 

Boats with two and three masts are also common. 
Pressed by a strong north wind, they breast the powerful 
current with their white-bosomed sails, which lean over 
athwart each side, or as we call it, " goose-winged." This 
river was for ages the " seven-mouthed Nile." It was called 
by a Hebrew word, and is still called in Arabic " El Bahr," 
with the same meaning, " the sea." These features do, in- 
deed, remind us of the prophecy uttered by Isaiah when 
he says (ch. xi. ver. 16), " And the Lord shall utterly de- 
stroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea ; and with his mighty 

Abyssinia, and had now £1000 ready wherewith to telegraph to the Ameri- 
can press every Avord he could get from the lips of the brave explorer. Sucli 
world-wide interest has this hero of Africa. 



THE SEVEN STREAMS. 



55 



wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall 
smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry- 
shod." 

The " tongue " is evidently what is now called the Delta, 
and the Egyptian " sea " is the Me. The " seven streams " 
have now dwindled down to only two,* and by the bridge 
at the Barrage, for the first time, men can " go over drv- 
shod." 

N'othing is more useless than a fanciful interpretation of 
prophecy, even of that which is fulfilled and past, but it is 
impossible not to follow the Scripture words into the next 
verse in this chapter, " And there shall be an highway for 
the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assy- 
ria ; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out 
of the land of Egypt." 

Whatever may be this " highway," we have at present a 
railway here from the Red Sea itself, and traversing prob- 
ably the very ground on which the host of Israel marched. 
The railway is already finished to Mansoura, and a branch 
is next to extend to El Arish, the frontier post of Pales- 
tine.f 

The Damietta branch of the Nile, which thus bears us 
along has all the grandeur of a noble river. It is wider 
than the Thames at Gravesend, and neither rocks nor rap- 
ids break the stately flow. The banks are high, and they 
are partly artificial. The foliage of green underwood often 
shades the water. Sometimes the shores are really beauti- 
ful with splendid trees and wide-spread park-like spaces, 
carpeted by richest grass. The current is quickened 
where the banks close in, and the Thames above Rich- 
mond Bridge was brought to my recollection by several 
turns in the Kile. In very few places is the scenery posi- 
tively tame, and no two bends of the river are alike. 

* In the days of the Eomans the jSTile was known by its eleven branches 
but of these, seven were principal ones. Herodotus states that of these seven, 
the Rosetta and the Damietta branches were both artificial. Thus at the 
present time the only mouths which are in proper action are the two artificial 
ones. 

t Consider also verse 11 of this chapter, and in chapter xix. verses 23-2;>. 



56 



DELIGHT OF THE NATIVES. 



My reception by the natives was generally civil, often 
humorous, and sometimes exciting, when the boys who 
cheered the coming stranger flung sods and mud upon him 
for a parting salute as he retired from the bank. This con- 
duct was harmless while I had the broad river Nile (or 
even its branch) to take speedy refuge in, but afterwards, 
in the narrow rivers, it was a serious concomitant of the 
voyage. Generally, as the blue sail was seen, a whole vil- 
lage rushed down to the bank, and half of them into the 
water; but with nods and smiles and "salaam" from her 
crew, the Rob Roy managed to get a good offing before the 
awe of wonder had subsided into the boyish desire to have 
a " shot " at the tiny craft. 

We camped on a nameless island — no dogs howling all 
night, as in every town — no " ghuffeer " as a guard to shore 
under my tent-eaves, but the radiant moon shining in the 
eddies of old Nile as they rippled me to sleep. Next we 
stopped at Benha, the old Atribis, with huge mounds of 
potsherds, the remnant that never perishes from an ancient 
town. I dug long to get at a mummy here, having spied 
a bit of garment sticking out from the rubbish, but at last 
the whole piece came forth, much burned at one end, for 
the place was no doubt set on fire before it was deserted, 
and then buried forever. 

The country on both sides of the river here is perfectly 
flat, teeming with verdure.* Five crops of clover had al- 
ready been housed this year, and the sixth was to be the 
largest of alL Delicious Indian corn grew high, and my 
table was supplied with dainty fare. Working, eating, and 
sleeping well, I soon gained the exuberant spirits of buoy- 
ant health, and the whole journey of twelve days on the 
water was a continual delight and surprise, for indeed I had 
expected only a tame sort of trip, like a canal voyage in 
Holland, or a paddle in Lincolnshire. 

* The English Consular Agent at Port Said, Dr. Yaab, has a very fine gar- 
den, with the rarest and most beautiful African plants growing, and a collec- 
tion of others growing from seeds and cuttings in sand covered by small 
glasses. Moisture is supplied to these only once in several months. 



FOG. 



57 



By five in the morning our slumbers were done ; at six 
three eggs appeared with tea and toast, while the tent was 
being struck, and then off went the Eob Koy into a dense 
but mild-tempered fog, which instantly concealed every 
thing around. Then I took out my Bible, or a traveller's 
"Book of Psalms," the kind parting present of the Earl of 
Shaftesbury, and while my canoe gently floated on the 
current, then was the time to read. 

The sensation of being thus enveloped in what looked 
like dense white wool was most singular, and wholly un- 
disturbed by any sense of danger. I must be going the 
right way. For the next hundred miles at least there was 
no new river to be entered. No boat could run me down, 
for there was no wind for it to sail with, and none of them 
dared to row in the mist. My luggage-boat, I knew, must 
be behind me, and at eleven o'clock I would somehow meet 
ner again for luncheon. But by the time the Rob Roy had 
twirled round and round for half an hour, the cotton at- 
mosphere was evidently thinner. Then rents appeared in 
it, and then patches of blue sky, and the faint green of trees, 
and the faint brown of mud villas^es, and the faint red flick- 
er that I knew was the ensign on the tall yard of my con- 
sort. See, the veil rises now, and the silk flag flutters on 
my little mast ; the whole bright scene comes out fresh 
and gorgeous, and a breeze has begun — yes, a south wind, 
favorable ; so my blue sail runs up, and away goes the Rob 
Roy on another twelve hours of charming journey. 

By the way we shall fish and shoot, and land to see the 
shore, and sing and talk with the natives, and sketch, and 
read, and soliloquize. There is one of the pigeon villages. 
It exists for pigeons. A hundred mud towers, about thirty 
feet high, are clustered together, and myriads of blue and 
white pigeons wheel in the air. Sometimes passing these 
in my little vessel, one could see what I had remarked be- 
fore on the Nile, that when the banks are steep, and the 
pigeons can not well stand on them to drink, they settle 
on the water itself, and closing their wings and floating for 
a few seconds, they manage thus to slake their thirst. 



58 



POTTERS. 



Evening comes quick in winter, and near the tent there 
sleeps, on the ground, our "ghufFeer," or native guard, 
which personage jou must take at every village, and pay 
this beadle of the Nile a franc or two for sleeping verj- 
loud to keep away the robbers. We were in a bad neigh- 
borhood last night, and even before this potent functionary^ 
had arrived, some thief had stolen a long piece of rope left 
out for two minutes. At another place our three boatmen 
absconded entirely, being displeased at some order I had 
given about their tattered but graceful sail. It is some- 
times more pain than pleasure to know too much about 
what others are doing for you badly, and boat-sailing being 
a hobby of mine, I felt it hard to put up with the lubberly 
ways of an Egyptian crew. Here is the large town of 
Semenood, where I had hoped to have a boar-hunt, but m.y 
last experience of* one in the Delta many years ago was not 
encouraging. The moment a boar ran out from the dense 
high covert of beans and prickles high above my head, all 
the beaters ran off, and as I fired into the brute's hind- 
quarters my foot fell into a deep chasm in the mud, so I 
sprawled on my back with spear and sword and dagger all 
clinging entangled together. 

In more pacific humor now, I spent an hour to see the 
potters at their work, near Semenood, the town being cele- 
brated for this ancient art."^ Among the tombs, in low 
clay huts, the nimble-fingered and prehensile-toed succes- 
sors of old Egypt's potters were plying the busy wheels. 
The wheel that flies round by that man's naked foot is the 
same as when Amenophis died, and the vase that is now 
spinning swiftly is of the shape that Sesostris drank from 
— for "why should they change?" that is what the people 
always ask me. Yet they willingly go by railway even in 
the Delta. 

In a pottery far up the Nile, I recollect, in my former 
visit, one of the men had his long chibouque suspended by 

* Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. pp. 282, 283) gives a good 
picture of the potter of Egypt, and cites the texts Jeremiah xviii. 4, 6 ; Isaiah 
XXX, 14 ; and Paul's striking metaphor in Romans ix. 



PUMPKIN KAFT. 



59 



cords from the roof, so that with one end in his mouth he 
could smoke and yet have hands free to work. The idea 
of a shorter pipe seemed never to have occurred even to 
this man so conversant with the clay.* 

Fishermen have odd ways of filling their baskets in the 
Delta. One of the most primitive is to see a man sitting 
on a sort of raft made of empty gourds, which are held to- 
gether by a net below a small platform of river reeds.f 
How can he sit upon that for two minutes without an up- 




THE BAFT SEEN TKOM BELOW. 



* At a seaport also I remember a man up to his waist in water and 
calking a ship, while all the time, somehow or other, he managed to Avield 
also a large " nargilleh " with two tubes, a yard long, stuck into a cocoa-nut, 
which every now and then was submerged by a wave. 

t The sketch shows the man fishing thus, and the lower figure represents 
a view of the same raft turned up to exhibit the net-bag of gourds. 



60 



EIYER GOD. 



set? He asks me the same question about my canoe. 
Both of us conclude that practice will teach almost any 
thing. In the next river the raft was still more rude, mere- 
ly a large bundle of reed shanks tied together. 

Another mode of fishing practised in the East (but chiefly 
on the sea-coast) is to scatter on the water crumbs of bread 
soaked in poison. The fish eat these and die and float, and 
the man gathers them to sell. 

All along the banks of the Nile is free luxuriant life, 
animal and vegetable, with a sense of profuseness and over- 
flowing that is almost oppressive. And yet every person 
around us looks squalid and poor, although not one begged 
from me. The cry of " backshish " was heard only once, 
and then it may have come from a donkey boy who had 
floated hither from Cairo. Every bodj^ is getting water all 
day and most of the night. The Nile is every thing to the 
Egyptian. The women are filling huge earthen jars, while 
they stand gazing at me in the stream that laves their bare 
knees, and instantly they replace the long, black, dirty 
yashmaks, which hang by three brass rings on the middle 
of the nose, to screen their sallow features from masculine 
gaze. The men are lifting water either in a leathern bucket 
or by a pole and weight, or a long lever, and working the 
Persian wheel. Not far off you can hear the puff^ V'^ff- 
of a high-pressure engine, and this also is pumping water. 
Marvellous Nile, how far j'ou spring from, how long j^ou 
wander, how man}^ millions all take water from you, and 
no wonder you were worshipped as a god! At eventide, 
the buffaloes wend their way to the river, and run the last 
few steps with neck outstretched, and eager thirsty eye, and 
wading forward they plump down in the mud, rollicking 
about in their bovine gladness, with onh" the nose above 
the surface, and a cloud of flies fighting to find room upon 
that Warm red now creeps over the western sky, and our 
anchor hooks us to the shore. The Eob Eoy meanders up 
some creek, while the tent is being smartly pitched by my 
admirable dragoman, and in half an hour my dinner is 
served up, having been partly cooked at the bows of the 



FIDDLE AND DKUM. 



61 



luggage-boat upon that clay slab you see there white with 
ashes.- The repast is hot, and clean, and wholesome : ex- 
cellent soup, one of the ducks I shot yesterdaj^, peas, 
oranges, and coffee; can any travelling be more comfort- 
able than this, in a canoe with a luggage-boat? And I 
mention the fare distinctly, for all the members of the Ca- 
noe Club soon get to know that, unless you are thoroughly 
well fed on a voyage, it is impossible to keep up both pace 
and spirits. The rising moon, now full, lights up the whole 
picture again, and makes it new with silver setting instead 
of gold. The oxen and asses for the night-work still keep 
grinding on the tedious round of the water-wheels, but the 
rather creaky tune is soon lost in the merry, plaintive song 
from every hamlet, with the shrill shrieking "trill, trill," 
of the women, and the deep-toned solemn sound of the 
Egyptian drum.* Some swains join in with reed pipes, 
and an old blind maestro will moan a sort of dirge while 
he plays, wonderfully well too, on a fiddle, called kamjeh, 
made out of half a cocoa-nut and onlj^ one solitary string. 

Then begin the jackals, and, at their sharp whine of 
challenge, the dogs — arrant cowards both; you can make 
them scamper with a straw. Meantime, in my large and 
beautiful tent, I recline reading " Speke and Grant's Trav- 
els" in French, or Tristram's "Land of Israel," or add tc 
my notes and sketches, or chat with Hany, or post up my 
log, and before ten o'clock I shall be in bed. 

* I had learned to play this darahoohra years ago, and brought a good one 
home. Music floats ever in the air of Eg^-pt, as "backshish" in Turkey 
proper, and ' ' dollar " in the land of the West. Crossing the Missouri River 
in Kansas, I thought there at least I was out of the range of Scotchmen and 
of dollars ; but in the ferry-boat the only other passenger was a Macdonald. 
and from the opposite shore the first Avord — shouted at an auction — was 
"doUar!" 



62 



NILE AND SEVERN. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Nile and Severn. — Nile and Thames. — Bab el Hagar. — Misery. — Compass- 
card. — Mansourah. — King Cotton. — Shoeblacks. — The Zi ier Ki ver. — A 
Water-puzzle. — A Run on the Bank. — Land of Goshen. — V/bnderment. — 
Admirers. — Finding the Way. — The Makalolo. — The Governor. — Start on 
Lake Menzaleh. — Living Clouds. — Mataryeh. — Legs of Ingleez. — Egyp- 
tian Lock. 

Many of the reaches of the Nile were like what is seen 
from the window where these lines are written, as the 
heavy tide of the Severn runs sleepily past the red cliffs 
near Newnham. But substitutions must be made in the 
mind, if Gloucestershire is to look like the Delta. Those 
corn-fields are instead of maize ; those bushy elms are put 
for palm-trees. The spires that point our English land- 
scape must be thought of as minarets, gaudy and white, and 
this pleasant "Severn Bank Hotel" is a change from the 
doorless, wall-less, windowless "khan" of the East, with 
only a roof and pillars, and a general odor of donkeydom. 

August here on the Severn will do very well for Decem- 
ber on the Nile, and as the moon lights up at eve, the dif- 
ference between the two pictures is only that between shad- 
ows. That lazy boat at anchor, fishing in mid-channel, 
would do for either continent, only in Egypt there would 
be gay turbans on board, and the soft, melodious drum, and 
gentle, careless song. 

As night advances, the illusion is more complete that I 
am now in Egypt, and can fancy the bed is in the same old 
tent, for I hear quite close the roar of wild beasts ; they are 
in the vans of Mander's "Unrivalled Menagerie," and their 
species and genera must be very terrible, for there is in- 
scribed upon the caravan the following Latin — the whole 
stock, no doubt, of the composer: — " Sui generis," " Yeni, 
vidi, vici," "Yse victis." Meanwhile the brass-band plays 
a chorus from Handel — an oratorio — at a show I 



BAB EL HAGAR. 



63 



Even a better likeness of tlie Nile is seen upon the 
Thames, from the garden of the hotel at Purfleet, where the 
old Kob Boy on her first voyage passed her first night in 
comfort. 

The dikes along the Thames are smaller than in Egypt, 
but equally strong. The Essex marshes stretch their flat 
landscape on either side, just like the Delta. When the 
setting sun casts a hazier light behind the shores, and fancy 
is more free, and colors are less true, then the tall tower of 
the new Asylum on the opposite hill might well be taken 
for a Moslem minaret, and the white-bait-fishers' boats for 
boats of Egypt. Greenhithe to our left from hence is 
shaded deep, but we can still discern the sharp masts of the 
"Chichester" Training-ship, the floating home for the 
homeless boy, and nearer, we hear a soft, sweet chant of the 
"Evening Hymn" from the open ports of the "Cornwall," 
where the poor lads who have slipped in first steps of life 
are put in the way upright, that they may cheer up and 
try again.* 

We halted in a lovely bend of the Nile, while I walked 
about two miles through the cotton-fields to examine a 
wonderful ruin very seldom visited by travellers. Alas ! 
to reach this relic of the past, we have to cross the rails of 
a new " iron road" of the present; so the romance is much 
spoiled of this "Bab el Hagar" (Stone Grate). No one can 
tell what the place was in ancient days; now it is a heap 
of stupendous cut stones, all granite and porphyry, all 
brought hundreds of miles, carved, polished, exquisitely 
fashioned, then all cast down, a huge pile of utter confusion 
— but how ? Eeally no one has yet found out the mode by 
which the ancients could tear asunder the enormous blocks 
of these grand temples. A long green snake came out of 
the ruins to dispute the ground with us. Hyenas and fox- 
es live in the tenantless palace, and the winding canal that 
watered its magnificent portal sleeps now forever, with a 
stagnant pool just here and there to trace it by. 

♦Details concerning the "Training-ships," and the "Reformatory-ships," 
are given in " The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy." 



64 



MISERY. 



At Zifteh the people were in holida}^ trim, on their Mos- 
lem sabbath, being Friday. The men had on their clean 
white turbans, and my crew asked to stop two hours for 
their mosque, which, of course, was allowed, because they 
seemed to care for their worship. Indeed it became a 
question whether it was not right for me to let the boat 
rest all their " Sunday," as it did during all of mine, but 
they have no such custom here. 

Another scruple may now be noticed, as one of the very 
few things which even for a moment interfered with the 
continuous pleasure of this canoe journey. 

When we had only one tent in Egypt, and when after- 
wards in Syria, with two tents for a larger party, we had 
still to accommodate some of them at night in that splen- 
didly roofed spare-room — the open air — it was not easy to 
enjoy my comfortable bed, piled up with blankets, and 
shaded above from the dew, while some of my dependents 
were out the live-long night in a keen, cold, frosty winter 
blast, lying upon the bare ground. 

'Tis true they were " used to it ;" that I paid them high- 
ly for the additional hardship of a journey in winter; that 
for some at least, as, for instance, the " ghuffeer," or guards, 
it would be a breach of duty to come under cover, when 
theirs was the post of watchmen ; and that none of them 
ever complained to me, and none would accept the rugs 
and carpets I freely offered for their comfort : still it was 
not quite a lullaby to hear men groaning with cold out- 
side, huddled under the lee of my tent (at the best a rather 
bare shield against the bitter blast), and onl}^ separated b}^ 
a thin bit of canvas from their fortunate employer, who was 
so intensely snug in his soft, warm bed. 

Some of the men, too, had terrible coughs, for hours 
barking away by moonlight as if they must burst their 
very lungs before morning ; and by our tent at Suez a poor 
woman, in a wooden hut beside me, coughed the whole 
night incessantly, as if each moment was to sob out her 
soul. It was a relief indeed to hear that in Egypt these 
colds in the chest seldom, if ever, prove mortal, but their 



MISERY. 



■65 



trouble and their loud appeal to sympathy were scarcely 
less from this. Even the stout old muleteer would whine 
at the cold racking his hardy bones, and at dead of night 
I could hear the mufded prayer of "Yorub!" (Grod help 
me !), or a long-drawn moan — " Alla-a-a I" 

Thick walls in England separate us from the dark, wet, 
freezing misery of the poor amongst us, and deaden to our 
ears their cries of hunger and of pain. Life would be im- 
practicable if we could realize one tithe of the wretchedness 
around us ; but his is a stony heart that does not think of 
this often, and get nerved by the sad thought to do his 
share in helping. 

Our voyage so far had no need of a compass, for the riv- 
er kept us iri its own course ; but among the sea-stores of 
the Eob Eoy a mariner's compass was an article very spe- 
cially prepared. In my voyage alone in a yawl, I had 
found some defects in the construction of the Liquid Com- 
pass, which had been kindly presented to me by the Royal 
National Life-boat Institution. Months of experience by 
day and night in the use of it at last resulted in several im- 
provements as to the mode of lighting, and the diagram on 
the card, etc., which were adopted. The new card is ap- 
plicable, of course, to a canoe compass. Messrs. Newton, 
the well-known opticians, presented to me one made in the 
new pattern, and by which for half a year my course was 
guided, and many curious observations were made, as will 
afterwards be noted in our log. The two forms of card are 
shown in the woodcuts on the next page, and the superior 
clearness of the new one will not need to be explained 
when it is compared with the other.* 

Before a fresh breeze still favoring, and an onward cur- 
rent, too, our boat speeds fast and pleasantly to the large 

* The Arabs, when looking at the compass, always speak first of the south 
point, "kibleh," as they call it. This is the same as among the Chinese, 
who "box" the compass by " South, North, West, East," and not, as with 
us, beginning at the north. I once heard a lecture upon "Great Britain," 
when the map used by the eccentric lecturer had its north point to the right 
hand, but the names all written so as to be read. 

E 



66 COMPASS-CAEDS. 




EOB EOY OOMPASS-CAKD. 



KING COTTON. 



67 



bustling town of Mansourah.* The sounds and sights, and 
even the very scents, around us now seem to tell at once 
that a revolution has been working here. 

Mansourah is immersed in cotton, and "cotton is king!" 
The American war gave suddenly a start to the cotton- 
trade in Egypt. Even now, much of the cotton that reach- 
es England comes from the land of the Pharaohs,f and cot- 
ton bursts forth on all sides. Children are plucking it in 
the fields, singing as they gather the fleecy pods into their 
little blue dresses tucked up for pockets. From country 
plantations a long string of camels stalks over the plain, all 
cotton-laden. Boats full of it are tracked along the sleepy 
lagoons of the Nile and the countless canals which intersect 
the ancient land of Groshen. At Mansourah the cotton-gins 
for cleaning the stuff and separating the seed are worked 
by steam ; and the ceaseless sighs of the engine are not 
even stopped on Sunday, though the bell has been ringing 
long for the Greek Church prayers. 

The tall, simple, smiling camel has found out this cotton- 
seed, too ; and as he strides along, he turns his head, and 
(when his driver is turning his head) he bites a mouthful 
of cotton out of the sack he is carrying, and munches away 
with a look of guileless innocence. 

Behind my tent is another railwaj^, all made by English- 
men. See the " signal-man," with a bright turban and no 
shoes ; he is spinning with the distaff, and the " points- 
man " lies prone on the ground and fast asleep. In front 
are the steamers, with the crescent flag shining red again 
below in the deep-flowing stilly Nile. Thus the spirits of 
fire and water, raised by James Watt, are, in the locomo- 
tive, the marine engine, and the land-engine, haunting us 
everywhere. 

The English vice-consul at Mansourah was kind and 

* The name means "a delightful place," and several towns in Syria are so 
called, 

t The export of cotton from Egypt from Oct. 1, 1868, to August 13, 1869, 
was 217,596 bales ("Times," Aug, 26, 1869). From America, in 1868, '9, 
it was 1,000,000 bales ; the total American crop, 2,750,000 bales. 



68 



SHOEBLACKS. 



hospitable, and lie already knew the Eob Eoy well by 
name. He told me the following strange story, quite typi- 
cal of Turkish ways. An accident happened a few days 
ago in a factory, when one of the cotton-gins tore and man- 
gled a little lad's arm. The necessity for amputation 
caused great excitement, but a terrible delay intervened. 
First, the boy's consent had to be given ; then, being a 
minor, it was found his father must assent ; next, his moth- 
er, too, had to be persuaded; and when all had agreed, 
the wise officer of justice had to re-examine each and to 
take their evidence in writing ; after which, and other 
formalities occupying three mortal hours, the operation 
was begun which should have been finished long before. 
As a set-off to these evidences of barbarity, we noticed, at 
any rate, one plain sign of civilization at Mansourah : 
there are shoeblacks in the streets. Cairo, Bey rout, and 
Alexandria have also their blacking brigades, though the^^ 
are not so organized as we have them in London, but each 
boy works on his own account as a " freebooter.""^ 

After a blood-red sunset, empurpled far overhead by 
heavens of deeper blue, we had a sudden and fierce gust 
of wind from the west, which whistled through the lofty 
masts and marred the sleeping landscape of the evening 
with a rushing storm of sand. My tent quivered again, 
and all inside was dust and darkness, as the poor fainting 
candle soon gave in. Loud cries now for the mallet to 
hammer down our iron tent-pegs ; so I must close my ink- 
bottle for the night, and give an extra brush to my hair in 
the morning. 

I left the Nile at this town, and chartered a luo^oragre- 

■ CO o 

boat on the Zrier Eiver (small river). Our ryis, or cap- 
tain, is a veteran seventy years of age, but he objects to be- 
ing called " old." His two sons are the crew, both able 

* The " Eagged-School Shoeblack Societies " of London earned during the 
twelve months ending June, 1869, nearly £9000. The oldest of the Societies, 
begun in 1851, and of ^yhich 100 boys occupy chiefly the City and the Strand, 
earned during the same time, as part of the above amount, the sum of 
£2100, and this year will earn £3000. 



THE ZRIER RIVER. 



69 



lads, and the moment the bargain was struck (now made 
"bj the piece," and not " by the day ") the ancient mari- 
ner begged us to hoist our ensign upon his boat at once, 
for that, he said, and only that, would keep him from being 
at the mercy of the soldiers, who could claim his boat at 
any moment and at any price they pleased. Next morning 
we launched our little navy, with a fine breeze behind us, 
and tropical verdure thick on the banks of the Zrier. 
The oak, sycamore, and weeping willow overhang us now; 
gorgeous butterflies flit from the tall reeds, or rest as if 
poised on the sunbeams ; the black and white kingfisher 
hovers in mid-stream, and the large Indian kingfisher, ar- 
rayed in red and blue, twitters as he launches on the breeze. 
Eagles, hawks, and bustards, wild ducks, and the graceful 
ibis now and then, and the crook-necked flamingo, and the 
pretty little hoopoo, with its crest and bill in a line till it 
settles on the sand, and spreads its chignon, to be admired 
by its partner, for they are always conjugal in pairs. 

We have, of course, a sort of " family worship " with my 
dragoman and his servant (both professing Christians — 
one, I hope, more than that) ; but, before this, it is a 
strange sight to see the crew of our boat every day at 
their prayers. They first wash their faces, adjust their 
garments, and then on the cloak of the ryis each man will 
kneel, bow, stand, bow, and rapidly repeat his words of 
Moslem worship, turning still to Mecca as our boat is 
wheeled round in the current. Then they give willing si- 
lence while a chapter of the Bible is read for ourselves. 
Some only of these men can read Arabic ; to them, and to 
such others as it seemed advisable, I gave Arabic tracts, or 
French, or English, and they were always gratefully ac- 
cepted. It seems strange. and unfriendly to live with men 
for days, and not to sa}^ or give one word to them about 
the great eternity that they, and we shall, meet in again 
most surely. 

The Zrier Eiver we are now upon is not visibly joined 
to the Nile, though once it was. This little river is one of 
many hundred streams that seem to rise out of the surplus 



70 



A WATER-PUZZLE. 



water wliicli percolates the soft loam of the Delta, coming 
underground from the Nile itself, bj working through its 
narrow banks of cla}^ An elaborate map is before me of 
the canals and rivers in the Delta. Years must be spent 
in learning the outlines of an aquatic network like this, 
and the clearest head would be very long puzzled in ar- 
ranging their outlets and overflows, so as not to require 
some of them to run up hill.* 

The fish are so numerous that no bait need be used: the 
hook is sure to catch a fish, even if the fish does not catch 
the hook. When caught, the fish are tasteless — as they 
are, in my opinion, all over the Mediterranean — and not 
worth cooking. This curious, economical mode of fishing 
is practised all over Egypt, but was particularly well suited 
to a narrow river like the Zrier. A man flings a brickbat 
with a string to it across the little channel — fifty yards. 
By this another man draws over a long string carrying 
large hooks upon it (but no bait), attached by a span of 
cord at every three inches. A float of cork is at each 
three feet, and some brickbat sinks every six yards. 
These were all neatly tied on by the fisherman with one 
hand and his teeth. A dozen lines are thus stretched across 
the stream, and fixed by pegs to the bank. The two men 
then take the ends of the string they first laid down, and 
so drag the hooks slowly under water against the current 
Each of the strings is worked in succession, and thus in 
half an hour the two fishers catch, at any rate, a few of the 
more sleepy of the fish. Besides this plan, the Delta fish- 
ers also use a triangle of bare hooks dangling from a short 
rod, and the more ordinary drag-net and the seine. 

The trees became rather troublesome, now that they 
branched so far across the little river, and there was scarce- 
ly room for the sail to pass between their green boughs, 

* The map is a photograph of one made by Mr. Lutfy, C. E., and it was 
found to be yery correct. By a decree ('"Times," Aug. 20, 1869), " Omar 
Pasha Lutfy " has been appointed the Director of the Eg^^atian Canal Works. 
From part of this map has been prepared our map at p. 93, engi'afting on it 
from tiie official map of the Suez Canal, and from a tracing of the last new 
lines of railway. 



A EUN ON" THE BANK. 



71 



which almost met in a leafy arch from bank to bank 
Still the current ran fast, and the wind freshened up until 
we had to take in a reef ; while our ensign, floating off to 
leeward in the breeze, often lapped the foliage on the tree- 
tops with its long red tongue. Tall reeds on either side 
choked up the channel, and as the wind down in the hol- 
low between such high banks could not reach the little 
sail of the canoe, I reluctantly tied her painter to the lug- 
gage-boat that she might be towed, while I climbed the 
bank for a scamper over the country alone. It was ex- 
ceedingly amusing to see the astonishment of the natives 
when they suddenly perceived a human form entirely 
clad in gray, and trotting steadily along. But they were 
never uncivil to me, and they always returned the saluta- 
tions of the runner. By cutting across the windings of the 
channel it was easy for me to keep up with the boat, 
which was now tearing along at great speed through the 
water. The view from the high bank was very interest- 
ing, for before me was the " Field of Zoan," where once 
was the pride of Egypt, and where mighty miracles were 
wrought through Moses. 




GOSEIN, IN THE ''FIELD OF ZOAU," SEEN FKOM A BANK ON TUE ZKIEE KIVER. 



72 



LAND OF GOSHEN. 



The horizon on every hand was one straight line, with 
only a few very distant mounds, or " tells," to show where 
cities had stood of yore.* 

All the vast plain was deep brown in color, not the som- 
bre hue of wild, bleak savagery, but that of a rich and mel- 
low land. Between the trees and just beside our sail-top, 
as it hurried past, there was a little row of dots on the dis- 
tant limit, a village still called Gosein.f This was the only 
relic I could find to tell of the famous land of Groshen, and 
the sketch here given was taken on the spot. 

Berimbal was the name of a village where we camped, 
with fine trees all round it, and a peaceful look of plenty 
and intelligence on many faces. The river here was not 
twenty yards broad, and a good deal resembled the wood- 
ed stream under Magdalen Bridge at Oxford. 

After another day's delightful sailing, on December 1, we 
arrived at the lively town of Menzaleh, with its mosques 
and minarets, and its bazars, its street-merchants squatted 
beside their pile of gourds, and dates, and pepper, and 
round flat bread, eggs, sweetmeats, oil, embroidered shoes, 
copper pots, mule-saddles, and a host of other things one 
does not want, although loud voices roar the names. 

The Zrier Eiver has a barrier here, which no persuasion 
could induce our boat-captain to pass ; therefore, yielding 
to the custom of the place, it was necessary for us to hire 
another boat to enter upon Lake Menzaleh ; and we were 
sorry to part with the nimble sons and the juvenile father, 
and they were sorry too. 

We camped in the highway, just outside one of the town 
gates, and in full view of the broad lake of Menzaleh. A 
dense crowd soon assembled, but they behaved most court- 
eously, ranging in a wide circle with the first few rows 
squatted down in the usual Eastern fashion. The tent was 
a delight to them, but a tent they had seen before. As for 

* Several large villages were %isible to the north, and beyond these were 
the minarets of Damietta. 

t This is marked on the map. There is also another of the same name, 
which I .did not see. 



ADMIRERS. 



73 



the canoe, it was so entirely new to every man that the 
oldest shook their heads when asked by the juniors in a 
timid way, "What in the world is tliatV In the various 
cruises of the Eob Roy the wonder or inquisitiveness shown 
by the natives of different countries has always been a 
study to her captain. Where boats are unknown — as upon 
the Upper Danube and Moselle, the canoe was greeted 
with an unmeaning stare, which often became a gaze of 
fright, especially if she was seen first in motion on the wa- 
ter, or dragged over the grass. In parts of Palestine, where 
not only no boat had ever been seen but no picture of such 
a thing which might give an idea of a boat to the Moham- 
medan mind, the feeling of the spectator on a sight of the 
canoe generally began with fear, and sometimes ended in a 
brave attack, as will be told before the end of the Rob 
Roy's log. 

Again, where boats are known, as in Norway, Sweden, 
the Elbe, and Schleswig-Holstein, as well as here in Egypt, 
the natives were all admirers, rather than amazed. They 
smiled with a yearning to examine the canoe more nearly, 
and their animated discussions about the matter showed 
how much they appreciated her delicate construction, and 
beautiful finish, and diminutive size, compared in each 
feature with all the best models of naval architecture which 
the oldest sailor of them had ever seen before."^ 

But now came the difficult part of the work — to find any 
man among these wonderers who could point out our way 
over the lake to the ruins of San, the modern name of 
Zoan, whither the Rob Roy was bound.f 

* In Canadian waters the Indians examined only the crew of the canoe I 
paddled alone. They saw plenty of the bark canoes and of " dug-outs," and 
the craft therefore Avas no novelty. 

■ t From L}'nch's "Visit to the Suez Canal" (1868), p. 58, we learn that 
Menzaleh Lake was formerly called Zoan, or Zan, or Tanis, or Tan ; and in 
Scripture the fertile district round was called the " field of Zoan." Strabo 
mentions fields and villages on its site, and the word used by him (vo/uog), 
"pasture lands," corresponds yvith the word employed by Arab geographers, 
Avho also call the lake Tanis, from a Avord meaning clay or mud. The He- 
brew "Tan" means "clay," and the Greek ttt/Ao^, found still in the modem 
name Pelusium. An Arab tradition from the tenth century states that this 



74 



FINDING THE WAY. 



I selected three of the likeliest fishermen for consulta- 
tion, and (Hany interpreting) the plan of travel we had 
formed was explained for their opinion. We were stand- 
ing in fall view of the lake, and with an excellent map, 
and these three men to help us in counsel, yet, after a good 
hour's earnest talk, of which, however, almost half was 
wasted in an animated debate between the guides, who at 
last came to blows, we found it utterly impossible to make 
out how the canoe was to paddle to San. 

" Toweel " was the place most difficult to fix in their dif- 
ferent versions of directions. At one time we were to go 
outside of " Toweel," at another it was evident that " To- 
weel " was to be left outside of our route. " Nobody lived 
at Toweel," and yet there were " always men " at this very 
place. The canoe could not sail nor paddle to " Toweel," 
nor could " the howaga^ walk to it." 

Even by a careful sketch of the coast I made for them, 
no man could tell us the proper course for San. But I 
have found that explaining things by drawings is seldom 
of any advantage, except when only common objects are 
outlined. People who have never before seen a map or a 
plan have no idea of it as a miniature of the land and wa- 
ter.f Dr. Livingstone told me that the intelligent Mako- 
lolo chief, " Setcheli," was perfectly incapable at first of 
discerning any figure even in a plain picture. The doctor 
tried him at last with the simplest sketch of a few men in 
a group, but the puzzled clever African, though truly 
anxious to make the best of what was put before him, only 
turned it round and round in his hands, and upside down, 

district was once covered with villages ; that many hundred years ago the sea 
overwhelmed all except Tooneh and others on high ground, and that the sur- 
vi-\-ing inhabitants carried their dead to Zoan. Funereal hierogh^ihic inscrip- 
tions found at Memphis mention "the land of Tannen." 

* In Eg}Tpt the Arabic g is pronounced hard, Avhereas in Syria the word 
would be with the softj, as "howaja." 

t Once upon a steamboat I obseiwed a Turkish lady studying an atlas. The 
map represented Turkey, not only as the centre of the earth, but as occupy- 
ing nearly all the circumference ; while England and America Avere two red 
dots on the farthest verge. I was generally spoken of as a native of Belad 
Ingleez — " the town of England." 



THE MAKOLOLO. 



75 



and still stared intensely at the paper utterly bewildered. 
At last a gleam of light seemed to flash upon his mind, 
and he pointed to a man's arm he could just descry in the 
drawing ; then gradually, but very slowly indeed, he seem- 
ed to catch another limb, and then a head, until the whole 
of the pictured group became intelligible. After his eye 
had been thus tutored to look for form represented in min- 
iature, he could always make out the meaning of pictures ; 
and the process his mind went through is, doubtless, like 
that which a little child must graduate in before he can 
point to a cow in his nursery picture-book, and tell us that 
he knows it by saying "Moo !" 

I retired from the bustle to consider the conflicting evi- 
dence as to the best route, and the verdict was "to start 
next day, and find the way myself" 

Four fowls must be roasted at once, and bread and eggs 
made ready for four days' food. To lighten the canoe, I 
left every possible item behind, even the boat's topsail ; 
and thus, prepared for all chances, there was encouragement 
in the reflection that surely this insoluble Menzaleh could 
not be worse to get over than the Malar Lake in Swe- 
den, where the Eob Eoy had found her way to the end, 
though eleven hundred islands had to be threaded to get 
there. 

It was a wide and novel view to sit and meditate before 
that open lake and the strange fishermen around us. The 
sun just setting showered upon the water a flood of fierj' 
red. On the large marshes near was a company of fowlers 
at their work, while more than thirty beaters spread out in 
a great semicircle and plashed along wading. The ducks 
and water-fowl rose in advance by thousands, and whole 
clouds of winged game flew straight into the range of men 
posted with guns in little bowers far out in the water. 
Many reflections crowded into my mind as to the strange 
things I should meet there on the morrow ; the men, the 
birds, the water, even the land, so entirely different from 
what could be seen anywhere else. Thunder in the night 
rumbled from far, and a few drops of rain came sprinkling 



76 



THE GOVERXOR. 



in the dark. Mj mackintosh sheet was soon rigged out to 
cover us from a storm, but it did not come to-night, aud 
only pleasant sleep. 

Before our start on this doubtful journey to San, a 
crowd came to see us, and in the middle of them, arrayed 
in full state, was the governor himself. In almost every 
town where we stopped in Egypt, the chief ruler was 
courteous enough to honor us with a visit, but this govern- 
or at Menzaleh was particularly complaisant. He was 
venerable and dignified. He was dressed in most brilliant 
colors. His suite encircled him with pomp, and the boy- 
slave, his pipe-bearer, carried for him a magnificent chi- 
bouque, all gold and gems, which reached from the old 
man's mouth even to the ground. 

His interest about the canoe was excessive. All its con- 
tents had to be explained — the cabin, sails, lamp, curtains, 
compass, paddle, and cuisine. He felt the long lithe sides 
of the Eob Eoy with his hands from end to end, because 
he was nearly blind. How vague must have been, after 
all, his notions about the whole affair! Explanations from 
this worthy fellow soon cleared up the meaning of that 
mysterious word "toweel," which we now found to signify 
any piece of land not solid enough to walk upon, and not 
covered enough to sail over. In fact, there were fifty 
"toweels" around us, and the particular "toweel" that 
was marked on the map near Mataryeh, and described as a 
village in the guide-book, had no special existence what- 
ever — nay, the natives protested against any such town in 
the world. 

Plans fully made in a campaign should be carried out 
at all hazards — if only you have made them after weighing 
all the evidence. But in canoeing one learns, among other 
lessons, that an important fact, though new, must be duly 
considered in our plans, even though its intrusion discom- 
poses all. Tlius it was now plain that the route I had set- 
tled to start upon, all alone, would entail a full half-mile 
of sheer haulage of the Eob Eoy over deep mud and very 
shallow water ; and yet there 'Was a far better way to San, 



LIVING CLOUDS. 



79 



for the lake was wide, and 3000 fishing-boats upon it all 
had ample room. 

At once my plans were changed, then, and a luggage- 
boat was hired to take us for five days at the price of eight 
napoleons, of which sum the large proportion of five napo- 
leons went to the Government for their share as a tax. 
By this boat we were to enter the lake at another side from 
the west, and to double the Cape of Mataryeh instead of 
crossing a marsh, and so to push on to San, which place 
I was more than ever resolved to visit by water, now 
that the difiiculty of getting there in this way was fully 
proved. 

Camels came to carry our luggage and tent, as our camp 
was now going to sea. The tall palm-trees bent gracefully 
over the gazing crowd, and shaded us to the last. Two 
stalwart fishermen shouldered the canoe, amid loud plau- 
dits, and Hany singing led the way. My parting address 
to the Mayor of Menzaleh was earnest and eloquent, if not 
intelligible, and in a few minutes more we had borne the 
canoe through the cotton-fields and launched her on a 
beauteous river hemmed in deeply by the weeping willows 
and other pendent trees. 

Four miles of a winding course upon this brought me 
gradually down to the west limb of the lake, where a very 
fresh breeze was blowing, and quite a new scene awaited 
my arrival. We had been told of the enormous flocks of 
wild fowl to be seen on this lake, and especially in winter. 
I had seen thousands, nay, myriads of these, and wondered 
at the multitude in the air. But I never expected to see 
birds so numerous and so close together that their compact 
mass formed living islands upon the water, and when the 
wind now took me swiftly to these, and the island rose up 
with a loud and thrilling din to become a feathered cloud 
in the air, the impression was one of vastness and innumer- 
able teeming life, which it is entirely impossible to convey 
in words. The larger geese and pelicans and swans floated 
like ships at anchor. The long-legged flamingoes and 
other waders traced out the shape of the shallows by their 



80 



MATARYEH. 



standing in the water. Smaller ducks were scattered in 
whole regiments of skirmishers about the grand army, but 
every battalion of the gabbling shrieking host seemed to be 
disciplined, orderly, and distinct. 

The breeze bore me fast from shore, and the waves ran 
high. More wind came, and I had to take in a reef Still 
more came whistling in squalls, and I tied my air-bed 
round me as a life-jacket. Soon it was a gale on the lake, 
presaged, indeed, by the thunder of last night, and being 
far out of sight of the luggage-boat, I struck sail to lie to, 
and to wait, and look, and listen, tossed upon the waves 
delightfully in light sunshine. For a large boat the navi- 
gation of this vast sheet of surplus water is extremely in- 
tricate. The edges of it are of course entirely unseen when 
you leave them a few miles astern, and I never could dis- 
cover how the pilots found their way among so many shal- 
lows and by such hidden channels. Soon the red flag of 
my consort joined, and the blue lug of the Eoy Koy ran up 
to have a race with the luggage-boat, until we rounded in 
towards " the Egyptian Yenice," Mataryeh, a very curious 
town, built upon two flat islands, which are united by a 
causeway only six feet wide and very low. Some hundred 
boats were here, and their long lateen yards broke up the 
straight horizon b}^ a jagged forest of sharp peaks. By 
cutting across the shallows, the canoe was able to keep up 
with the great luggage-boat, which had to go round each 
island in a deeper channel. When the red ensign came in 
sight of the town, the whole population turned out to see. 
Red, with a white crescent on it, is the Moslem flag ; so the 
people thought my luggage-boat had some high officer 
of state on board, coming, perhaps, to raise their taxes, 
which already for the fishing on the lake produce ten thou- 
sand pounds a year. But present]}^, when the blue sail of 
the Rob Roy showed round the " Hospital Point," it was to 
her, of course, that every eye was turned, for all the peo- 
ple here are interested in fish, and so in boats — men, wom- 
en, and children. 

The deep calm harbor was a contrast to the winter gale 



LEGS OF INGLEEZ. 



81 



outside. Under the gaze of the crowd, Hanj, with due 
dignity, prepared the midday repast, and I had to attack it 
(nothing loath) with many hundred eyes fixed upon the 
clean white table-cloth spread on my deck. A barge ap- 
proached from the shore with all its deck full of people and 
music, and the governor himself on board. I landed with 
him to see the town, and a very amusing progress we made 
of it through his aqueous domain. He was a young spright- 
ly fellow, very well dressed, a Nubian with a face like the 
blackest charcoal. Six of his sui.te preceded and six fol- 
lowed me on my rounds, and all of them had long bamboo 
canes. The first half-dozen of these were to thrash the 
people out of the way, and from the other six I heard 
whack! whack! as they thumped the population who in- 
sisted on following after. But it was all done in good-hu- 
mor; and, for a bit of fun, I began a quick-march too, step- 
ping out gradually at first, then more and more at speed, 
until with the longest strides I walked my very best, in and 
out and round all the blind alleys of the town and its dark 
bazars. The escort had to run to keep up with their 
charge, for the Egyptians can not walk five miles an hour. 
Often the vanguard rushed in one direction, but when I 
came to the turning, I went perversely down the other way. 
As they ran, they panted, and laughing said, while they 
scampered along, "How he does walk!" "Great is the 
power of the Ingleez !'' " Oh, his long legs !" 

The fish caught here seem to be nearly all of one size 
and shape, like perch, but of exaggerated depth and stumpy 
length, and exactly of the form depicted in so many Eastern 
paintings. The houses for packing these fish when salted, 
were very interesting to see. Our parting with the people 
and their dusky ruler was more than cordial, it was almost 
affectionate; while all the crowd exclaimed, "Never was 
there seen such a sight in Mataryeh !" We had laughed "a 
good deal at many things together, and now the mayor 
most gladly received from me some little books, for he 
could read quite well, and which dealt with graver topics 
common to all mankind, and far too interesting and good 

F 



82 



EGYPTIAN LOCK. 



to be shyly ignored between men meeting for once in the 
wide, wide world. 

Three sailors and a boy were our crew of the luggage- 
boat this time, but there was another little fellow, almost a 
baby. I did not know at first he was with us, for they had 
locked him up for safety in the forecastle, an apartment 
about the size of a portmanteau, and when he whined in- 
side, and I ordered him to be let out, they brought the key 
of the Egyptian lock, just like a tooth-brush, with wires for 
its hairs, each wire corresponding to a ward in the lock. 
The plan is simple and sure, and it certainly contains the 
idea too of the well-known "Bramah lock," which is used 
all over the world."^ 

The wind being contrary, the paddle had now to drive 
the Kob Eoy for about four hours, ascending the river 
Mushra, but I ran her up the winding creeks, and soon be- 
gan to replenish our larder by shooting my first wild duck 
from a canoe. People had foreboded an upset as the sure 
result of a gun's recoil. However, it was only the duck 
that was knocked over. 

* The Egyptian lock and its key are both of wood, and when a man has 
locked his door, he throws the key over his shoulder, where it can hang all 
day suspended by a string round his neck. This custom, no doubt, explains 
that verse of prophecy, " And the key of the house of David will I lay upon 
his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and 
none shall open " (Isaiah xxii. 22) ; which passage again leads us to the 
further and clearer mention of the solemn truth in the Book of the Revelation, 
' ' These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of 
David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man 
openeth " (ch. iii. 7). 



EIVER MUSHRA. 



83 



CHAPTER Y. 

River Mushra. — "Field of Zoan." — Strange Creatures. — A Lost Needle. — 
"Fire in Zoan." — Qualms. — Flamingoes. — Rigs. — A Yarn. — Lubbers. — 
By Moonlight. — Fort Said. — Parting Shot. — Squall. 

After a long and winding voyage on the Mushra, which 
leaves the Delta with a score of others, and, passing by 
Zag-a-Zig, conveys Nile water, partly from filtration, partly 
direct from the Nile, finally into Lake Menzaleh, and once, 
probably, in much greater volume, into the sea, we came 
near the vast tells, or mounds, of ancient Zoan, and I start- 
ed on foot to explore them all alone. It is far the best way 
to be alone in examining a huge relic like this, where deso- 
lation reigns, where all may be seen without a guide, and 
where the sentiment of silence adds to the loneliness of the 
scene. 

For a mile I crossed a marsh, not without frequent diffi- 
culties, and then climbed up to the highest mound, perhaps 
200 feet above the water. All was seen from that point, 
and indeed it is a noble view. The horizon is nearly a 
straight line on every side. Looking west, the tract before 
us is a black rich loam, without fences or towns, and with 
only a dozen trees in sight. This is " The Field of Zoan."" 

Behind is a gleam of silver light on the far-away shore 
of Lake Menzaleh. Across the level foreground winds 
most gracefully the Mushra, and down there below the 
Rob Roy floats on the ripples of a gentle breeze. But be- 

* "Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan" (Numbers xiii. 22). 
In Psalm Ixxviii. 12, we read, "Marvellous things did He in the sight of 
their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan ;" where Stanley con- 
siders that "field" may be the translation of the Hebrew signifying "to 
level." Cruden gives "motion" as the meaning of "Zoan." The name is 
referred to again in Isaiah xxx. 4. 



84. 



"FIELD OF ZOAN; 



tween that winding river and the mound we look from, 
there is lying bare and gaunt, in stark silent devastation, 
one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world. It is 
deep in the middle of an inclosing amphitheatre of mounds, 
all of them absolutely bare, and all dark-red from the pot- 
sherds, that defy the winds of time and the dew and the 
sun alike to stir them, or to melt away their sharp-edged 
fragments. 





THE "field of ZOAN." 

M. Mariette, of Cairo, lately had these ruins uncovered 
(by forced labor, I was told, of 500 men at a time). They 
are wide-spread, varied and gigantic. Here you see about 
a dozen obelisks, all fallen, all broken; twenty or thirty 
great statues, all monoliths, of porphyry, and granite, red 
and gray ; a huge sarcophagus (as it seemed to me) was of 
softer stone, and enormous pillars, lintel, and wall-stones 
are piled in heaps one over the other, most of them still 
buried iu the earth. The polished statues are of various 
sizes, and of beautiful workmanship. Some sit with half 



STRANGE CREATURES. 



85 



the body over the ground, others have only a leg in the air. 
One leans its great bulk sideways, covered up to the ear ; 
another lies with chair and legs appearing, but the head is 
buried deep in the mud.* 

The buildings seemed to have formed a temple, with 
three outlying edifices. Some of the obelisks must have 
fallen long before the dust and refuse of ages had filled the 
courtly halls, then tenantless. Others fell on this new 
stratum, and these now lie, say, ten feet higher than the 
floor, while a few of the taller columns lasted perhaps for 
another thousand years, and then they toppled over on the 
lonely plain with a crash unheard by a regardless world. 
The sand soon buried them there, and even the memory 
of Zoan faded away. 

The words in Isaiahf may well be read here with so 
plain a comment round us : 

" Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of 

* In the exfoliating granite of these old Avails I found some very curious in- 
sects. They were crowded in groups of many hundreds close together, and 
they seemed to lie dormant until disturbed. Each was like a small grain of 
corn, hut flatter, and more of the shape of a lady-bird. The color was a uni- 
form pale yellow, and they had many legs. I could not discover the slightest 
trace of moss, or any vegetable matter, in or near these groups, though I 
carefully examined the stone with a lens. Some of them I brought away, 
and sent in a letter to that amusing and excellent weeldy paper, "Land and 
Water," being quite sure that a description of them there would educe full 
explanation of their proper names and habits, if they did not eat their way 
through the envelope on their passage home — like some bats sent from Aus- 
tralia to my friend Mr. Gould (the king of ornithologists), and which, though 
asleep when they were posted, awoke, and ate up the other letters in the 
mail-bag and bit the postman's fingers at the end. However, the following 
appeared in "Land and Water," September 18, 1869 : — " With the kind as- 
sistance of Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, T have compared their dam- 
aged remains with the specimens of this class of insects in the national col- 
lection, and find that there is only one individual there which at all resembles 
the Rob Roy specimens. This is an unnamed coccinella from China. It has 
the same buff-yellow elytra with very faintly discernible spots of a slightly 
deeper shade on them, and, so far as we could ascertain, the same number of 
black spots (nine) on the thorax, placed in the same form and position. Mr. 
Smith hopes to be able to make a perfect insect for the collection from the 
disjecta membra of more than one individual." — Henry Lee. 

t Isaiah xix. 11-13. 



86 



"fire in zoan." 



the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish : how 
say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of 
ancient kings? 

"Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let 
them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of 
Hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 

" The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of 
Noph are deceived ; they have also seduced Egypt, even 
they that are the stay of the tribes thereof" 

Think of the labor of transporting hither these stones, 
each many hundreds of tons in weight, from the Upper 
Nile, whence several of them must have come, and yet we 
Englishmen have left the splendid obelisk, " Cleopatra's 
Needle," close by the sea at Alexandria for fifty years, 
though it belongs to England, and it would grace our finest 
site in London. In 1849 this neglected gift was only half 
buried, but in 1869 it was so completely hidden that not 
even the owner of the workshop where it lies could point 
out to me the exact spot of its sandy grave ! 

The mounds that now hedge in the ruins of Zoan — so 
that from no point in the plain can jow see even one stone 
of the grand silent pile — were probably the houses of a 
great town built of mud, and an extensive pottery. All 
over and under and among the stones are large masses of 
vitrified bricks, evidently the produce of the kilns and re- 
minding us of what was predicted in Ezekiel (ch. xxx. 14), 
"I will set fire in Zoan." 

Many as are the celebrated ruins I have seen, I do not 
recollect any that impressed me so deeplj^ with the sense 
of fallen and deserted magnificence.^ 

* In the loth verse of the 30th chapter of Ezekiel it is said, "And there 
shall be no more a prince of the land of Egj'pt." The country has been for 
ages subject to foreign rule. Lately the present viceroy seemed to have ac- 
quired almost the place of an independent sovereign, but the Sultan has just 
reminded his highness (in no measured terms) how entirely dependent upon 
the Porte is this governor, who would set up as "a prince of Egypt." In 
Isaiah (ch. xix. 4-10) is the following further prophecy: "And the Egyp- 
tians M-iU I give over into the hand of a cniel lord ; and a fierce king shall 
rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts. And the waters shall fail 



QUALMS. 



87 



Our wandering up and down the Mushra was like a quiet 
walk along a country lane to see a deserted town, only the 
way was by water. In the lake again once moi^e, the 
journey was livelier as the Eob Roy dashes out upon a 
wave-flowing sea. Islands innumerable block up the hori- 
zon. Sea-birds by thousands sail upon the wind. Fla- 
mingoes hover in flocks, and spread a pale pink cloud of 
beauteous plumage painted by the sun. Pelicans in groups 
of ten at a time gently rise and fall on the ground-swell, or 
lumber through the air with heavy wing, and pouch well 
filled with fish. 

The life of a water-bird seems the most full of enjoy- 
ment, for it has three elements to sport in, and on the earth 
and the wind and the wave it is equally at home. But 
what is to be said about the fourth element, fire ? There 
is good reason to cut short even so happy an existence if 
the dead bird is really useful for the mind or the body of 
man, to be stuffed for a museum, or for a side-dish, or to 
grace the head of a girl. Still I own to some tender qualms 
when the pretty gay feathers are fluttering at the other end 
of my gun-barrel, unconsciousl}^ waiting their doom ; and it 
may even be a consolation to the sportsman that a "miss" 
of his trigger will disappoint only one of the parties con- 
cerned, while it sets the other free. 'Tis better to grumble 
at one's bad luck or bad shooting than to be haunted by 
the ghosts of orphan ducklings, or the cackling of a web- 
footed widow. 

To the bird-fancier, or the scientific ornithologist, one 

from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall 
turn the rivers far away ; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and 
dried up : the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, 
by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, 
be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they 
that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon 
the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they 
that weave networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the 
purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish." How much of 
this is already fulfilled can only be seen by going to the brooks, and ponds, 
and fishers for one's self. The word "aroth" is said, in Smith's Dictionary, 
to be wrongly translated ' ' paper reeds " in this passage. 



88 



FLAMINGOES. 



might well suppose that a month on Lake Menzaleh would 
be the very least he could give. As for myself, I did not 
go for the water-fowl, but for the water, and yet every day 
there was some new feature of winged life to be noticed on 
the lake. 

One of the most amusing sights was the odd clumsy man- 
ner in which the flamingoes {iichaf in Arabic) rise from the 
water to the air when they are hard pressed by such an in 
truder as a canoe. 

The bird, with the utmost reluctance, having at last re- 
solved to fly away, up he springs, with his long legs dang- 
ling upon the wave-tops, and walking on the water might 
'and main, while his wings are struggling above, and his 




FLAMINGOES TAKING WING. 

neck is crooked out in front. It is only after a long doubtful 
scramble between earth, water, and air, that the scrimp little 
body, with its pretty pink wings, can finally manage to car- 
ry off the whole concern, in a hurry packed together, the 
long snake-like neck and the lower encumbrances called 
legs. The various phases of this process of locomotion are 
shown in the sketch above. 

It will be seen by Map I., at p. 93, that Lake Menzaleh 
has a very irregular outline, especially on the southern side. 
Its length from north-west to south-east is about forty miles, 
and when the water is full, the breadth from Port Said is 
fifteen miles. A distinct chain of islands runs along the 



EIGS. 



89 



middle, and many others of various sizes dot the surface, or 
disappear just beneath the water when that is full. 

The depth of the lake is nowhere great, and for many 
square miles we found it not more than four feet, even in 
the channels. On first thoughts one is apt to suppose that 
a shipwreck in water only a yard deep would not be a very 
serious disaster, even if the solid land were several miles 
away on every side ; but, on reflection, it is soon found that 
this shallow pond-like area is more dangerous for the lone 
sailor who may be overturned, or water-logged, or benight- 
ed, than a deeper lake would be. For while it would be 
very difficult or impossible, without complete exhaustion, to 
reach the shore by wading several miles over such shallows, 
it would also be a severe tax upon both pluck and patience 
to find for the first time a channel deep enough for a boat, 
where so many parts of the lake are mere pools joined by 
surface-water only a few inches in depth. For when you 
get into one of these, desiring to cross it in some determi- 
nate direction, the channel leading to another of the pools in 
the chain may be in the most unlikely side of the pool you 
have entered, and thus for hours the boat would be caught 
in a cul-de-sac.^ 

The various rigs of vessels on the lake are not numerous, 
but we may be allowed to spin a little yarn about them. 
Small boats, especially at Port Said, carry the orthodox lug- 
sail, some of them also a jib. Fish tank-boats, very low in 
the water, and (without any conceivable reason I can see) 
depressed on deck at the bow and stern, have the lateen 
sail on their masts, but are much propelled by poling. 
All the larger vessels also have long poles to punt with, 
and of course they row with " sweeps." The large lateen 
sail of the Nile is much used on the lake, but without the 
good reason which justifies its use in the river : that its up- 
lifted peak may catch the breeze over the top of the high 

* On one occasion, long ago, voyaging alone, my boat found its way into 
a pool of this kind ; but it was more than six hours before she could get out 
again, and all that time there was nothing to do but to read the only book I 
happened to have on board, A Table of Logarithms." 



90 



A YARN. 



banks. For lake-sailing, and wherever any attempt to beat 
to windward in regular boards has to be made in rough 
water, and in narrow bounds, the lateen is used by the 
Menzaleh boats most absurdly. Often they tack ship with- 
out shifting the sail to leeward of the mast, and they are 
content to lose all weather progress whatever while sailing 
on the " short leg," besides cutting the sail itself to pieces 
by grinding it on the shrouds. 

The sail is not like a " dipping lug," for the javd is per- 
manently slung at the mast-head, and when the vessel comes 
about, the sail has to pass above all, so that the after leech 
goes over the mast and yard and is brought round to the oth- 
er side. Then the yard itself swings over the mast-head, 
and finally the sheet can be hauled aft. 

This dangerous and lubberly process is so much more 
easily done by " wearing ship" that in most cases you find 
the pilot put his helm up. Sometimes, when the loss of 
weather- way would be too bad to justify this, the vessel is 
actually stopped, and held by a pole (or even anchored!) 
while the sail is got over. In such cases, and often when 
"going large," and wearing, the sail is triced up for a min- 
ute or so, while a boy is sent out on the yard to hold it up and 
to gather it with his arms, in order to prevent the canvas 
from catching too easil}^ in the upper gear. The braces, too 
(or vangs, as they would become in an ordinary cutter-sail, 
with gaff and boom rig), bind the sail in an extremely dan- 
gerous manner, and, if taken aback in a squall, the boat is 
most apt to subside for a ducking, like a man in a strait- 
jacket sent adrift on the waves. The crew, however, care 
very little indeed about the prospect of a capsize, being fa- 
talists in the most illogical fashion. Once, when my " da- 
habeeh" was sailing on the Nile in a fresh gale, the hardi- 
hood of the men was beyond all bounds, and the boat reel- 
ed about several times, within an ace of upsetting. To 
the sailors personally it was no matter if she did go over ; 
not one of them had any luggage to care for but his pipe ; 
so after they had disobeyed my directions once too often, 
and the vessel heeled down under a long mountain squall, 



LUBBERS. 



91 



I quietly went forward and cut the sheet in two with a 
knife at the time in my hand, being then at breakfast. 

Had this been done with any semblance of anger, it is 
not easy to say what the consequences might have been, 
for it was of course the highest possible affront to the sea- 
manship of the crew, but being perpetrated with serene 
calmness, and even a smile, they only wondered and mut- 
tered, and put it down in their memories as another of the 
extraordinary things that those "Ingleez" will dare to do. 
But many occasions occurred when the extreme ignorance of 
saiHng on the part of a crew, willing enough, but utterly lub- 
bers, grieved me, in the hopeless knowledge that it was no use 
to protest, far less to instruct, and the only thing was to sit 
still with an air resigned, but a deep wounding of one's sense 
of the " ship-shape," and an excruciating pain concealed. 

There was thus always plenty to occupy the mind of 
any one who cares for boat-sailing, besides many other in- 
teresting and ever-varied sights. Camping for the night 
on a lonely islet in this lake is truly a new lodging. It 
was quiet enough until the jackal's scream woke up some 
distant echoes on the main-land, but yet the shrill music 
near us being a solo made the other silence more impress- 
ive. Not far off were the fishers' stations, little bowers 
of rushes, each at the end of two lines of wattles fixed ob- 
liquely zigzag in the shallow lake. The fish swim along 
these hedge-rows seeking an outlet, and they find them- 
selves at last in the net at the end. This net is held by 
the strange baboon-like native, whose fire for the evening 
is now alight, and the smoke feebly curls in the dark gloom- 
ing of eve. He will stop there for days and nights togeth- 
er, and boats will take away his basketful of fish, which at 
Mataryeh will be salted and thence sent all over Egypt. 
The wonder felt by these men may be imagined — sitting 
in silence in their funny little nests — when I visited them 
suddenly in the canoe. The moon rose in state to brighten 
long rows of white sea-birds dotting the dark water, and 
the horizon was only broken by the distant mast-tops at 
Mataryeh. Then gliding back in the moonlight, the Kob 



92 



BY MOONLIGHT. 



Koy brought me to camp again, and her covering was thrown 
over her now resting in bed and well " tucked in " by Hany. 
The absence of all sounds but the faint ripples on the shore 
is intensely refreshing. Our party are all at rest now, but 
yet we can hear at times the latest flocks of geese speeding- 
homeward to roost in the fens, and the beat of their instant 
tireless wings sounds sharply musical, but unseen, as if you 
were to whisper loudly and very fast the words " Tiff — tiff 




NIGHT ON LAKE MKNZALEH. 



— tiff— tiff," lowering the voice as the sound dies away in 
the night, and the moon shines calmly still. 

By sunrise our tent is melting into a bundle, while a 
lovely morn is welcomed and a friendty breeze. With 
compass and map I cheerily sail out alone, and after a 
long cruise with my gun, and a rest on the islands, peeping 
into the wild ducks' homes, we board the luggage-boat as 
usual, when sharp hunger, after five hours' work, quickens 
the nautical sense, for it is wonderful how soon you can 



PARTING SHOT. 



93 



find the way to food " if you have but a good appetite, 
and know where it will be appeased. Thus we sailed on 
till, in the far horizon, blurred and quivering with mirage, 
the ships at Port Said could be seen. The Arabs called 
this " Bult," a way of saying "Port" when their language 
has no p. Safely landed at our old quarters there, we 
looked back on the past six weeks of travel with unmingled 
pleasure, and forward to the Syrian tour with hope. 

Next day I took a long walk by the sea-shore, which 
here is of unsullied sand. The temperature was perfect — 
cool enough to walk anywhere, warm enough to sit any 
time. The tide came quietly in upon the glittering beach, 
and rushed among the colored shells. Wave after wave 
gracefully bent its thin crest, and, toppling over, flung 
athwart the sloping shore a long, wide, tongue-like sheet 
of glistening water, which lapped around it with a gentle 
sweep, and then left the cool wet sand to shine in the sun, 
verged by a rim of pure white foam, melting away. 'Tis 
in such days one can walk fast and far, singing unheard. 
It was my last walk in Africa, and a good twelve miles, 
rather too long for a morning stroll. 

The heavy luggage and the second tent which we had 
not' taken through Egypt were all waiting for us at Port 
Said. The officers of the canal very kindly permitted our 
party to camp in their well-kempt ground, an excellent 
place for a Sunday rest. Hany was delighted to be no 
longer shorn of half his dignity by ruling over only a 
half- equipment, so he rose to the occasion, and ^spread 
abroad our English flag in this French town of wood. 

Next day all was bustle in preparation for the farewell 
dinner in my tents, to which were invited four of the 
French Company, who had been most kind to the Rob 
Ro}^, and while plate and glasses, and viands and decora- 
tions, and hangings and flowers, were being prepared, the 
canoe took a farewell paddle down the canal, for a parting 
shot at my old friends the pelicans. A fine rolling swell 
in the bay poured its blue waters tumbling through the 
long-armed piers projecting seaward. 



94 



SQUALL. 



The pelicans were swimming, and had been daring us 
to come out for hours, but they could be seen only at rare 
intervals when the canoe and floating birds happened both 
to be high on the waves. It seemed as if it would be im- 
possible to use a rifle in such a swell, but it was impossible 
to resist the desire to try it. No one can tell what excite- 
ment will not urge him to dare if once the idea seizes the 
mind that a shot can be had at a fine large bird like a pel- 
ican. 

To shoot was not easy, for when I brought the Kob Eoy 
as near as possible to the birds, and then lowered the pad- 
dle and drew out the double-barrel, the very next wave 
was sure to turn round the head of the boat, and the next 
turned her more ; and so while the little canoe was brought 
"side on" to the long rollers, my body had to be screwed 
round at a most crooked angle to get the barrel in line 
with the birds, which now were behind my right shoulder. 
Nothing but daily use of the boat would enable one to 
balance himself while aiming thus, and without the paddle, 
and without regarding in the eye the waves as they came, 
for the boat must now be poised by only the sense of feel- 
ing. At length came the supreme mom.ent when the gun 
and the bird were each on a wave, and I fired, and I miss- 
ed, and that was an end of it. 

On the pier which we approached, so as to reload in 
more quiet water, there were some pilots waiting for a large 
vessel seen in the ofiing. They shouted to me that a big 
squall was coming, and truly it was looming in the sky, 
and a rainbow framed the picture. As we got out on the 
pier, the waves dashed full upon it. Down came a furious 
gust of wind and drenching rain while we cowered under 
the huge blocks of the jetty, and the men told me all the 
secrets of their craft, and entirely confirmed the impression 
I had received after carefully going round the whole area 
of water here inclosed, as a place of safety for the future 
navies of nations that are to hie them in a body to Port 
Said. 



BEYROUT. 



97 



CHAPTEK YI. 

Beyrout. — Massacre. — Good News. — Schools. — Bustle. — Blind. — American 
Mission. — Moslems. — Prince of Wales. — Agrippa. — Our Flag. — French 
Lake. — " Gratias." 

Splendid old Lebanon, snow-capped, young Beyrout 
smiling in rain-tears, and all the boys running down to the 
beach to see the canoe — that was our way of landing in 
Syria. Yet it was only with reluctance that I could bring 
her to the shore and leave the fresh-flowing waves of that 
pretty bay. Egypt, indeed, is grand with the sublimity of 
vast flatness. But now we have the mountains for a hap- 
py change, and, after all, the plain can not please like the 
hills. Quaint oldness is the feature of Egypt, lovely beau- 
ty is the charm of Beyrout. 

A rapid glance at this thriving town soon shows one 
that it is now the focus of civilization for Syria, perhaps 
of the evangelization also of this district of Asia. My 
faint recollection of it many years ago was still enough to 
let me judge how wonderful is its recent advance. The 
town is increased in size. Its roads and streets are far 
better kept than most of those in Alexandria or Cairo ; 
its houses are altogether superior externally to those of 
Egypt ; its people well clad and wholesome-looking — wom- 
en comely and tidy, children mirthsome and intelligent, a 
" school-going " face, whose mothers, too, can look men in 
the face as equals. Most of these improvements here have 
been effected during the last eight years, since the terrible 
massacre of the Christians by — but we shall not name the 
assassins. 

While family ties were cut asunder then with a bloody 
violence, the bonds of priestcraft were broken by the same 
rude shock, and people were set free from worn-out crazy 

G 



98 



STKEET IN BEYROUT. 



systems, to unite again under new associations of religion 
or nationality. Hence Beyrout has become a camp-ground 
for both truth and error. Popery is intrenched here. The 
Grreek Church has enormous buildings and collegiate ap- 




STKEET IN BEYEOUT. 



paratus (if we extend the title "college- lads" to the mer- 
est schoolboys). Prussian deaconesses congregate and toil 
with zeal and success. The American Christians are band- 
ed in close array — they who almost first won the ground 



GOOD NEWS. 



99 



here for the Bible. The practical action of British Protest- 
ants may be seen and closely studied in Mrs. Thompson's 
schools, and even the dull cry of the Moslem prophet is 
quickened by these intruders, so as to have, at any rate, a 
Mohammedan college too. 

It is scarcely fair to any of these institutions to visit one 
or two of them and to describe only these, when so many 
are clustered in the beautiful slope of the town, looking 
out upon " that goodly Lebanon," now decked to its waist 
in purest snow, and skirted below by the azure sea. But 
my time here was limited to the few days required for 
preparing men, horses, mules, tents, luggage, supplies, and 
porters for my own journey, and, this being unique in its 
kind here or anywhere else with a canoe as the centre of 
the cavalcade, I felt it would be out of place to inspect 
Beyrout, however interesting, if the time thus consumed 
would be taken from that absolutely needful for success in 
the main purpose of my voyage on the " waters of Israel." 

Let us, however, go into that airy, cheerful, and substan^ 
tial building, where the chief schools are carried on by 
Mrs. Thompson. Her husband, well known years ago to 
travellers who went to Damascus, bravely did his duty in 
the Crimea, and fell a victim to diseas^. As a widow, she 
felt sympathy for the widowed wives and bereaved moth- 
ers and sisters in these mountains, when "all their men" 
had been butchered for their Christian name. She assem- 
bled these poor hapless ones, and told them of the aid sent 
out by England. Lord Dufferin had come to dispense 
this British present, and he did it well. The widows were 
grateful for the help, but far more than gratitude moved 
them when they were told of the sympathy of our queen, 
and of English ladies, and that these had even wept for the 
poor Syrian mourners. Sj^mpathy is more, or seems more, 
than money -gifts when the heart is sore. She spoke to 
them of Christ, and the story of his love was news to many. 
They would not leave the room where such good news 
had been heard. Their new friend was forced thus by 
heart-pressure to begin a noble work. 



100 



SCHOOLS. 



Her scbools are chiefly for girls, as most needed for the 
countr}^ and most fitting for a woman to manage. AYhat a 
pleasant school-room this ! Nothing can be more cheerful 
or inviting. Children of all ages, nations, and ranks are 
here, busy and happy together. Those of them who are 
the best learners now will be teachers soon under this ex- 
cellent training. See that first class of girls, with their 
bright-hued dresses, the natural and therefore graceful 
colors of their land, toned down a little by the neat, plain 
pinafores, sent as presents from England. How many 
lovely faces there are among those maids from the mount- 
ain ! Druse girls, with gay kerchiefs and black hair; 
Arabs and Mohammedans, some who will not show their 
faces, and others who smile at every look from a visitor. 
One coming in state with nine servants ; another sent to 
school in a carriage ; the next one a mere pauper from the 
street ; and beside them both an Abj-ssinian with her friz- 
zled locks. Two or three English are here, too, but all 
seem equally happ}^ and equall}^ loved. 

No wonder this little famil}^ should gladly meet in such 
a place, and with such kind ladies to direct them, and such 
excellent, active, and intelligent teachers to instruct them. 
The}^ read in Arabic, French, and English ; they trace the 
maps or sew embroider}^ ; they write and cipher. A few 
recite some simple drama, wherein one is the " spider," one 
the "flj^," and one the wise fairj^ who tells the moral to us 
all at the end. Then how well they sing! and what ser- 
mons their ver}^ manners must preach at their several 
homes, even if they never speak a word of what thej^ have 
learned ! But there are several branch-schools besides at 
mountain outposts in connection with the head-quarters of 
Mrs. Thompson's work in Beyrout, and we shall visit sonic 
of these as we go farther on. 

Coming so recently from Egypt, with its vast plains, to 
Sj^ria, with its lofty mountains, it was natural to compare 
the countries and the people of the two; also to regard to- 
gether the ragged school at Cairo with this training-school 
at Beyrout, and to consider the separate fields occupied 



BUSTLE. 



101 



b}^ Miss Whately and Mrs. Thompson, working in the same 
vineyard. Both are, of their kinds, most interesting, useful, 
and worthy of all support. In Cairo the degradation of 
the ignorant is deeper, the bonds of women are more cruel- 
ly slavish, the position of the Christian teacher is more iso- 
lated, the lack of sympathy and companionship is more de- 
pressing. Nothing, in fact, but positive heroism could at- 
tack such a difhcult post as that, or win it, or hold it when 
a footing was secured. In Beyrout there is an atmosphere 
more free, and the brighter faces of the pupils are more 
gladdening to the teacher's eye ; but yet in each place, 




FOUNTAIN AT BEYKOTJT. 



Cairo and Syria, there is a most signal evidence of the con- 
straining power of Christian love for souls ; one more proof 
of the influence of woman in the world when patient, per- 
severing work is to be done, and one more sign that, of all 
women, British ladies are the best for noble deeds.^ Ever}^ 
moment of my time here was soon engaged by kind friends 
on one side or another. An address to this school, an ex- 
amination at that, a peep into a third, a lecture on canoes 
to the English residents, and a service on Sunday for the 

* Information may be obtained by those who would help those Beyrout 
schools from Mrs. Smith, Morden College, Blackheath, Kent. 



102 



BLIND. 



school children, etc., these filled up pretty well the time be- 
tween packing and buying, walking and visiting, settling 
those nameless nothings without which, well arranged, a 
special journey of this kind is certain to break down. 

Besides these efforts on behalf of the ignorant, and the 
orphans, and the sick, a very interesting but very difficult 
work has also been commenced for the blind, and one for 
the maimed. Mr. Mott's little class of blind men reading is 
a sight, indeed, for us who have eyes. Only in February 
last that poor sightless native who sits on the form there 
was also in the mental and moral darkness of ignorance. 
How glorious now the change, as his delicate fingers run 
over the raised types of his Bible! and he reads aloud and 
blesses God in his heart for the precious news, and for 
those who gave him the new avenue for truth to his soul. 
" Jesus Christ will be the first person I shall ever see," he 
says, " for my eyes will be opened in heaven." Then even 
this man becomes a missionary. Down in that room below 
the printing-press of the American Mission, and in the 
dark, for he needs no sunlight in his work, you find him 
actually printing the Bible himself in raised type, letter by 
letter, for his sightless brethren. This is one of the most- 
impressive wonders I ever looked upon. As we leave the 
place, some of the maimed, and lame, and halt, scramble 
along the road to their special class for a lesson, so that all 
kinds of suffering are here provided for ; and this mission 
of Christians is following closely in the actual personal 
work which He, the great missioner himself, described as 
His mission to mankind. The woodcut on the opposite 
page is from a photograph of this blind man reading God's 
Word to the maimed. 

The American mission and schools and college in Bey- 
rout are in amicable Christian fellowship with their British 
brethren ; and this is most happy, for their premises are 
near one another, and their work is to the same end, though 
by different means and in distinct departments. While the 
"British Syrian Schools" are educating children and train- 
ing teachers, the American College is intended to instruct 



AMERICAN MISSION. 



103 




BLIND EEABING TO THE LAME. 



youtlis willing and able to give some years to deeper study, 
and to aim high at learning, so as to enter important pro- 
fessions, and to become ordained ministers or doctors of 
medicine. 

The college* is a large, plain, and practical-looking edi- 

* The following information is derived from Dr. Post, of the medical de- 
partment in the Beyrout College : — ''The College (in January, 1869) num- 
bers sixty-seven students, of whom forty-six are in the literary and twenty- 
one in the medical department. The latter all pay their fees in full ; and as 
these, for the new class, are quite heavy for this country (10 gold medjidies 
= about £9), Ave consider this a great success in the direction of self-support. 
The students in the literary department are in part supported by scholarships ; 
but a considerable number defray all their expenses. They are from six dif- 
ferent religious sects, including Druses. The students of the literary depart- 
ment study the Arabic language and literature, English, French, the natural 
and physical sciences, and will ultimately advance to the higher departments 
of intellectual and moral philosophy, and the analogy of natural and revealed 
religion. The mathematics are also thoroughly taught. An air of studious- 
ness and decorum, unusual in Arabic schools, pervades the building. The 
religious influences brought to bear on the students are of the strongest kind. 
The medical students for the most part room out (i. e., in English, 'lodge 
out ') of the college building, and can not, therefore, be brought so much un- 
der college discipline. The students have gone through a thorough course 
of anatomy, chemistry, and physiology, and are now receiving instruction in 
materia medica and practical clinical medicine and surgery. Not a few of 
them attend the services of the college and mission chapels." 



104 



MOSLEMS. 



fice, with halls and dormitories, and a medical school and 
dissecting-room, and with a pretty new chapel, nearly fin- 
ished then, but doubtless now all ready. This is a promi- 
nent addition to the beautiful buildings of other kinds 
ranged all around upon the same hill. When I walked 
into this church alone, an old gentleman addressed me. 
He is the architect of the building, a native Syrian, the 
brother of one well known in England. He was the first 
Protestant convert in Syria, but soon after the change he 
had a difference with the missionaries, which resulted in a 
separation. Then his former friends came round him again, 
insisting that he should return once more to his old dis- 
carded creed ; but he answered, " No ; I have a quarrel 
now with some other Christians, but not with Christ. I 
love Him more than ever, and I will never separate from 
Him." Eestored friendship enabled this steadfast man 
again to work in harmony with his foreign brethren, and 
now he is building their church; and when its marble floor 
has been laid, and its clock has been set a-going, and its 
bell a-ringing, he will have just reason to be proud of the 
part he has been privileged to take in the American Mis- 
sion. 

Dr. Bliss is at the head of it, and Dr. Yan Dyck, eminent 
as an Arabic scholar, and another able professor of medi- 
cine, and all the appliances for education — broad, sound, 
if not refined — which our Western cousins know so well 
how to keep in action on strictly economical terms. The 
Bible is, of course, their solid foundation. Their curricu- 
lum requires four years' study before any youth is deflect- 
ed into one or other particular line by choice and fitness, 
and at his entrance he must be sixteen years of age, and 
pass a creditable examination. I could not judge of the 
aptness of the scholars, because, very properly, their 
studies are not allowed to be interrupted by the examina- 
tion often given in other places when visitors call to see a 
school. 

In one of Mrs. Thompson's schools I found the man who 
calls the Moslems to prayers from the top of their mosque 



PRINCE OF WALES. 



105 



— one of the Muezzim whose faint shrill voices sound in 
the hot sun of noon ; but now he is reading and praying 
over the Bible. In another school, that at Zahleh, one of 
the pupils is the best painter of church interiors in Syria. 
Many a "Virgin" and "Saint" has he limned upon their 
idolatrous walls ; but now he knows the pure faith, and at 
a great sacrifice he has given up his former profitable busi- 
ness, because it was inconsistent with his obedience to 
God's word. 

After a service at one of these schools, all the girls 
pressed forward to shake hands with the " Howaja In- 
gleez," and one of the little creatures confided to me a very 
loving message I was to carry to her former teacher, now 
in Damascus. They were, indeed, a happy and affection- 
ate party, more like a family than a school, and amongst 
them were the little Druse girl, and the Abyssinian child, 
the intended bride of Theodore's son, who found so far 
away from home a nestling place upon Mrs. Thompson's 
knee. One of the pupils then recited, with a clear and 
distinct voice, in English, that striking piece of poetry, 
"The Starless Crown," which she afterwards wrote out 
for me as a souvenir of this visit. 

It was truly kind of the Prince of Wales, who had visit- 
ed these schools himself, that he did not forget to commend 
them to the Sultan when that phlegmatic monarch came 
to England. Let all nations see for themselves, and let 
them hear besides from the mouths of our princes, that 
education without religion is like an atmosphere without 
its oxygen. We can breathe it so, but it is not the " breath 
of life." The prosperity and progress of Bey rout, and the 
remarkable stir to be seen there in the matter of education, 
and the great quickness and aptitude of the Syrians to 
learn, are all exceptional features in the East, and are the 
more striking because of so much sluggish dullness at this 
end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is well to remark that 
Beyrout is beyond the strict limit of the Holy Land, and it 
seems also to be outside the borders of the curse which 
rests upon the land of Israel — only for a time, we know, 



106 



AGRIPPA. 



but Still heavily now, and for good cause too. But fast 
comes the day when the blessing will embrace them again, 
and " all Israel shall be saved." 

Not many notices of this town of Beyrout can be found 
in ancient authors, but Josephus tells us something of 
what Agrippa did for the place.* 

While the English, after the massacre in 1860, did the 
real work of helping the poor, and the widow, and the 
fatherless, the French blew their bugles and marched their 
Zouaves throughout the land. A splendid road was made 
by the French from Beyrout to Damascus. This is a hun- 
dred miles long, and the Suez canal is just the same length 
over Egypt. Thus Paris has two arms stretched over the 
East : one on the land, the other on the water ; and both 
seem to clutch, if they do not embrace, the country of Os- 
manli. 

The road is more French than any thing in France — 
a strict monopoly to begin with, and it does not by any 
means "pay," except in political influence. 

The very same carts, with big wheels, gawky shafts, 
thin bodies, canvas tops, and cerulean-bloused Frenchmen 
inside and out, are rumbling along here, precisely as they 
rumble in Algeria to the Atlas, or, in France, to the mount- 
ains of Grrenoble. 

The sea, too, is scored deep with French ruling. Splen- 

* ' ' Now, as Agrippa was a great builder in many places, he paid a pe- 
culiar regard to the people of Berytus ; for he erected a theatre for them, 
superior to many other of that sort, both in sumptuousness and elegance, as 
also an amphitheatre, built at vast expenses ; and besides these, he built them 
baths and porticoes, and spared for no costs in any of his edifices, to render 
them both handsome and large ; he also spent a great deal upon their dedi- 
cation, and exhibited shows upon them, and brought there musicians of all 
sorts, and such as made the most delightful music of the greatest yariet3\ 
He also showed his magnificence upon the theatre, in his great number of 
gladiators ; and there it was that he exhibited the several antagonists, in or- 
der to please the spectators : no fewer indeed than seven hundred men to 
fight with seven hundred other men ; and allotted all the malefactors he had 
for this exercise ; that both the malefactors might receive their punishment, 
and that this operation of war might be a recreation in peace. And thus 
were these criminals all destroyed at once." — " Antiq. of the Jews," book xix. 
ch. vii. sec. v. 



OUR FLAG. 



109 



did steamers ran up and down the coast incessantly, and 
so long as the enormous subsidy is paid them by Govern- 
ment, they will never cease to run. 

Kussia, jealous, sends her steamers too along the same 
route, which brings pilgrims to Jerusalem by thousands 
from Odessa, and garrison the holy places by battalions 
of stout women, who start from the steppes of Moscow, 
where I have seen them on their way, each in a universal 
garment, with its hood about her sturdy cheeks, and a staff 
in her hand. Half a year is their holiday for the crusade, 
and they fight their way to Eachel's tomb, and then, satis- 
fied, stump back again. 

Austria buys steamers too in Scotland, and sends them 
along this coast. England, alone, is entirely absent on this 
line of travellers, for she will not pay for an "idea," nor 
for that will her merchants equip a passenger-line of Syrian 
steamboats. 

But a good quiet trade in merchandise is done by Britain 
here, and if you go farther round the African headlands, 
and look at the flags in Lagos, and along the bights, on to 
the Cape of Good Hope, it is the brave old ensign of our 
island that is waving there, as it always will do when 
freights are found, and dividends are to be earned by sheer 
work. Still this absence of England from the Palestine 
coast is not pleasant to notice for an English traveller, 
'Tis true the mercantile attractions for shipping are but 
meagre now, at any rate for passenger-boats. From Alex- 
andria right up to Skanderoon there is really not one good 
port all along this iron-bound shore. 

Port Said is of the future. Joppa is utterly bad. Acre 
has skeleton hulls bleaching on the shore to warn you off. 
Haifa is a mere tossing roadstead. Beyrout has no dock, 
but squalls and swell in plenty, and if the Turk would in- 
vite good commerce to his country, he really must provide 
or allow that a port should be made to receive it. 

Besides this want of harbors in Syria, the distance be- 
tween the present ports is wasteful of steam and of sea- 
men's wages. Joppa must be entered by daylight, so the 



110 



"GRATIAS." 



steamer runs six hours in the dark to Port Said, and then 
waits a long time there, so as to arrive next morning at 
Joppa. Again she leaves Joppa so as to enter Beyrout in 
the morning. In fact, the whole eastern side of the Medi- 
terranean is inconvenient as yet for legitimate commercial 
venture, and it is precisely in the condition when France 
finds scope for Imperial advancement at any cost, however 
great, to her tax-payers. 

All this clever policy has one purpose ; Algeria, Egypt, 
Syria, and so on round the coast, are to be attached to 
Paris, until the Mediterranean becomes a "French lake." 
France is the nation here in Syria, and napoleons are the 
common coin. French is the best-known foreign tongue 
here, and the very shops in the streets have French sign- 
boards besides their own. England, which is, after all, 
dearer to the hearts of these people than any other " Fer- 
inghee," appears to be, it must be confessed, most lamenta- 
bly absent from the sight and the hearing of the common 
people, except by these schools we have mentioned, by the 
large number of English travellers in Palestine (about fift}^ 
times the number of the French), and by the impression, 
still very vigorous and fresh, of what Albion achieved in 
her Abyssinian raid.* 

* In one good policy, however, all the steamers I used in the East did 
weU — they carried the Rob Roy gratis. England had set them the example 
when the ' ' Peninsular and Oriental Company " kindly took her from South- 
ampton to Alexandria, and brought her back again, quite free. The French 
steamers did the same, the Austrian too, and the Russian likewise. Eor this 
I thank them all, not as for a money boon (a few pounds is little in a six 
months' journey here), but because it showed kind feeluig to the voyager, 
and an approval of his purpose. 



OVER LEBANON. 



Ill 



CHAPTER YIL 

Over Lebanon. — Canoe on Wheels. — The Rob Roy in Snow. — Odd Quar- 
ters. — "The Yonng Lady." — Generous. — Zahleh School. — River Litany. — 
Hanged. — An Eagle. — The Fiji. — Source of Abana. — In-doors. — Cats. 

Our ride over Mount Lebanon need not be described, 
but it is impossible not to mark the rapid change in a few 
days from Egypt and the yellow Nile to the rugged cliffs 
of the mountain, the whirling mist, the dashing torrents, 
and, at last, the snow. It was unusually early for the 
winter garb to clothe even this the " White Mountain," as 
its name signifies. Yet for miles we plunged on in snow 
a foot deep, driven about by a keen, cutting wind, and 
hundreds of men were required to clear this away that the 
French diligence might ply its daily course in time. On 
arrival in a dark night at a little village, I found my sad- 
dle-bags had dropped off on the road. At once two hardy 
mountaineers volunteered to go back and seek for the val- 
uable lost property, and off they trudged with lanterns, 
and splashed through the mud and slush and sleet, and 
they happily found the bags a long way off where I had 
suspected they must have come loose. 

The road is excellent ; it is all marked in kilometres 
(French again), very well kept, and rolled down and fenced 
and drained. But the toll of three francs for each mule is 
enough to deter hundreds of these from using the road; 
so they plod on their way along the old worn-out, steep, 
muddy, slippery, winding bridle-path, which runs often for 
miles alongside the carriage-way, and thus you see strings 
of heavy-laden asses, camels, and mules, toiling among 
boulders and sharp rocks, with their drivers ankle-deep in 
mud, while the even flat surface of the new road is used by 
a scant few ; and no cart or carriage goes upon it except as 
part of the " Company's " monopoly. It is a miserable 



112 



CANOE ON WHEELS. 



sight, and tbis gift of France to Syria is like a crust to a 
toothless beggar. 

Our first intention as to the mode of transporting the 
canoe through Syria was to have her carried by two men, 
with two others in reserve at intervals, for the weight of 
the Eob Roy, when lightened as much as possible, could 
be reduced to about sixty pounds, which would not be an 
oppressive burden for a couple of stout Syrians. 

But after careful consideration of this plan, I came to 
the conclusion that something better must be devised, and 
the events of the very first day on Mount Lebanon clearly 
showed us how difficult it would be to carry a boat by 
hand, especially on slippery ground, and that it would 
have been more than could fairly be expected from mortal 
men to plash through the half-thawed snow, while a canoe 
was upon their shoulders or in their arms, constraining 
their motions, and making the troubles of their way ten 
times more irksome. Therefore, for this part of the jour- 
ne}^, at any rate, we were glad to be able to hoist the Rob 
Roy into its covered cart again, and happily she got over 
the high pass just in time to avoid the worst part of the 
second storm, which came in sudden fury soon when the 
road had been opened for us after the first fall of snow for 
the year. The diligence had been stopped here for many 
hours, buried in a drift up to its axles, but the French 
showed great energy in clearing the road again, and our 
cart went over easily, bearing its precious cargo.* 

Is it maudlin that one can not help personifying a boat 
like this, the companion of so many happy hours, the sole 
sharer of great joj^s and anxious times ? When we see even 

* Some thousands of persons have seen the Rob Eov since she returned to 
England, and -was shown for three months at the Palestine Exhibition in the 
Dudley Galleiy. Many of these visitors, well aware of the numerous scars 
and scratches which a six months' journey would inflict upon so light a craft, 
are astonished to observe that the canoe has weathered it all, and is almost 
unscathed, for she is far less knocked about than the fonner Rob Roy was in 
her trip to the Baltic. There is not one crack in her planks or her thin cedar 
deck, after all sorts of hardships from weather, and carriage, and hauling on 
land, and never spared for a moment in waves, or rapids, or morass. 



THE KOB EOY IN SNOW. 



113 



deal tables merrily turning round, and can fancy a smile on 
the face of a clock, are we quite sure that there is no feel- 
ing in the "heart of oak," no sentiment under bent birch 
ribs ; that a canoe, in fact, has no character ? Let the lands- 
man say so, yet will not I. Like others of her sex, she has 
her fickle tempers. One day pleasant, and the next out of 
humor ; led like a lamb through this rapid, but cross and 
pouting under sail on that rough lake. And, like her sex. 





OEOSSING MOTTNT LEBANON. 

she may be resisted, coerced, nay, convinced, but, in the end, 
she will always somehow have her own way. Yet how- 
ever faintly other people may feel with me in this matter, 
it will be allowed that any one who keeps a boat for a jour- 
ney, and expects her to go long and far, and to be always 
stanch and trim, must at least be careful of her safety in 
dark nights, in doubtful places, or when left alone. Few 
boats can have had greater variety in their night quarters 
than this canoe. In hotels she was often locked up in a 

H 



lU 



''THE YOUNG LADY." 



bedroom, and once she floated on a marble basin under the 
moon. In private houses a place was kept for her near the 
lire, and away from the children. By lakes, canals, and 
rivers, the Kob Koy was sometimes my house, and so it 
covered me ; or, when the tent was used, she was covered 
up herself from the dew by a carpet, and snugly placed un- 
der the tent-lines safe from the mules. The straw hut of 
the Arab gave her shelter once, and, at another time, a buf- 
falo's byre. Her polished deck was shielded from sun by 
hiding her below the long grass of Gennesareth, and for two 
nights she rested on the shelly beach of the Ked Sea. She 
was lodged in a custom-house, or on a steamer's deck, or 
down in the hold, or she floated on the Nile under the pro- 
tection of her rough sister of the sail, whose sides were of 
Delta clay, or at times she was taken on board, so as to be 
quite out of danger. Grreat deference was paid to the ca- 
noe by all the men of our retinue. She had not one tum- 
ble or accident, and no wonder that Hany always called her 
" the young lady." Perhaps through this pleasant fiction 
the voyage was safer, certainly it was more fortunate, and 
it was impossible for a cruise to be more successful in all 
the course prescribed. At present, however, the Kob Eoy 
was safe on the rice-bags in a Frenchman's wagon, while 
we rode on to meet her at the Abana River. 

Our traveller's morning lesson was now on horseback, as 
it had been on the Nile in a boat, and it was soon found to 
be quite easy to read aloud while riding over the grassy 
plain. From this we hurried off to Zahleh (pronounced 
with a strong aspirate on the letter A, almost as if it were 
the Scotch ch). This is the largest village in Mount Leba- 
non. It was all burned down in the " massacre time," an 
epoch of suffering which seems to date so many changes 
here. 

Frenchmen soon rebuilt the houses, all with flat roofs, 
while at Beyrout the sloping tile is beginning gradually to 
appear in large new buildings, where they wish the house 
to be dry, and to last a long time. 

A gush of waters sounds loud at the bottom of a deep 



GENEROUS. 



115 



and winding valley, with poplars at the bottom, and vine- 
terraces to the top. The houses are all neat-looking, and 
most of them white in color ; and, as there are no chimneys 
and no streets, the appearance of the whole is very peculiar, 
even to the eye well used to Eastern buildings. What 
strikes one about it is that the irregularity is so very regu- 
lar. The houses nearly all face to the same point, but they 
are not in rows. We stumbled up one side and down the 
other until our horses reached the new school-house of one 
of Mrs. Thompson's branches, chiefly aided by kind friends 
in Glasgow. The old school-house being too small and too 
far off, a new one, in every way suitable, was most gener- 
ously offered free during the remainder of the lease, if taken 
after that for five years. This munificent aid from a native 
is of itself a real proof of the value set by them on the op- 
erations of a school. 

The new building is wide in its front, and stands high in 
the town. The excellent Scotch lady in charge was de- 
lighted to receive her visitor, and soon men and women 
came in from other houses, all evincing by look and man- 
ner, and earnest -salute, how glad they were to see an Eng- 
lishman ; for the place is not often thus visited, being a few 
miles out of travellers' paths, and only otherwise interesting 
because of its picturesque situation. Nearly all the inhab- 
itants of this village are Christians in name, most of them 
bigoted Papists, with lazy priests for guides, and the church 
and. the convent bells ring on the hill; but no mosque is 
there that I could see. A deeper Christianity seems lately 
to have spread in Zahleh, and many are eager to read the 
Word of Life. Perhaps it was by some of these that, with- 
in the last two months, more than three hundred Arabic 
Testaments had been purchased at one shop alone in Bey- 
rout; as I heard from the person who sold them„ Surely 
this one fact gives hopes that the people are seeking the 
Bible, while from other evidence we know that the mission- 
aries are seeking the people. 

Comfortable airy rooms, and a cheerful court-yard, open 
to the fresh-blowing mountain air; these are the features 



116 



ZAHLEH SCHOOL. 



of Zahleh school. All the children are awaj. The house 
just occupied is to be whitewashed to-day, so the scholars 
have a holiday, though the women who are to whiten the 
walls have not arrived, and it is noon. 

But a pith helmet, with the Canoe Club cipher upon its 
black ribbon, and a water-proof coat, and a dragoman with 
a double-barrelled gun, these are novelties that do not 
scramble through the lanes of Zahleh unnoticed by the 




ZAHLEH SCHOOL — OPENING DAY. 



boys of the town. They followed us, so that when called 
to come in, there was soon a large and motle}^ array, first 
of little girls (for whom the school is meant), who sat quiet 
and well behaved in a room open to the air, and then of 
boys from the American school, just opened, under the 
Sultan's sanction, given to the English female department 
(by a clever extension of the boon, whether legal or not) ; 
and then of men of various ages, fringing the background 



KIVER LITANY. 



117 



witli their graceful head-gear and their many-colored robes. 
An address to the children was very well interpreted, each 
sentence at a time, by a girl, and another interpreted a 
prayer, to which all listened. 

It was a pleasing, strange, and solemn sight. The con- 
gregation half in-doors and half in the open air ; half chil- 
dren, half old men: the words half spoken in English, 
half in iirabic; and to think (and to say) that never again 
in this world, but surely again in the next, we should all 
meet each other once more. The men were anxious for a 
longer interview, and some of them sat down on chairs (a 
very unusual thing here), while they were spoken to apart. 
Then being invited to ask any questions, one of them wish- 
ed to have our "jury system" explained, which was, of 
course, soon done, and my dragoman gave, in round gut- 
tural Arabic, Ms version of the Templar's picture of our 
English law. All kissed my hand, and we were soon in 
our saddles again. As a memento of Zahleh, I made the 
opposite sketch of the new school on its opening day, from 
the roof of another house, though there is little chance of 
forgetting a visit like this that we had enjoyed. 

Soon we cross the Litany, the largest river flowing 




BRIDGE OVEK THE LITANY. 



118 



HANGED. 



through Palestine into the Mediterranean. It was not easy 
to resist the desire to paddle at once upon this fine strong 
stream, but strangely enough, there are scarcely any his- 
torical associations, and no sacred ones, about this river at 
all. We shall see some of its grandest beauties farther on ; 
meanwhile it flows steadily here, yet enlivening the land- 
scape at once. Land without water never can be perfect 
in scenery. The veriest pond on a plain is like a dimple 
on a smooth cheek. The lightsome glitter of a lake or a 
river bend is like a sweet smile on the face of a beauty.* 

With the first glimmer of day, it was most pleasant to 
walk over the rich plain of Coele-Syria breathing the fresb 
air of the morning. My horse's bridle was slack upon my 
arm, and our tread was light on the footpath wifiding 
through the loam made fat by many battles. 

The pretty crested larks, 

" That tira lira chant," 

rose into the merry blue sky twittering their song to the 
sunrise. 

Thus in advance and alone until Hany overtook me, 
I gradually ascended the pass through Antilebanon, and 
in charming enjoyment of unfettered thought, and lovely 
scene, and healthy exercise. 

* " Ain," the Arabic word for " eye," and also for a fountain bursting out 
from the earth, is yeiy expressive, as representing a glittering " eye" on the 
face of nature. The word has the same meaning in "Hebrew and Syriac, 
and is in that form in Amharic, Arkiko, Hurar, Gindzhar, and Gafat " (Pa- 
per by H. Clarke, " Athenajum," No. 2178, 1869, p. 116). 

If the "face of nature," is to have fountains for eyes, and hills for cheeks, 
and forests for hair, our fancy may as well make it sentient at once, by 
putting telegraph wires for the nerves, by which quick pleasure or neuralgic 
pain thrills through the great dull body. 

The electric wire is spread over Eg}^t. There are two lines of telegraph 
from the south to Damascus. The posts cresting the rocky mountains, over 
some desolate pass, remind one of those in Switzerland. Turkish reforms 
are by jerks and starts, but it is a steady maxim never to repair. More than 
once we came upon broken wires in coils on the plains. Nothing is more 
dangerous to ride over than an iron trap like this, for an Arab horse becomes 
furious if his legs get entangled. The Arabs themselves are compelled to 
respect the telegraph. One of them who defiantly struck the wire with his 
spear was ferreted out, and hanged upon the very post he injured. 



AN EAGLE. 



119 



In a former travel of this road some twenty years before, 
I was so weak from severe illness, that I had to fasten a 
chair on the saddle-bow, and to lean forward upon it for 
support. Getting worse, and yet determined not to delay, 
I had a long pole lashed on the back of a mule, and 
sprawled upon that, face downward, and forced to dis- 
mount each half-hour to get a short rest on the ground. 
But all was different now, and the intense enjoyment of 
the present journey was quite in keeping with the vigor- 
ous health vouchsafed. 

Not far from the ruins of old Chalcis is the beautiful 
temple at Mejdel, from which our view is magnificent over 
the wide-spread plain of Bukaa. For many centuries this 
had sounded with the shouts of warriors battling for the 
mastery of Palestine, in the struggles related by Josephus. 
But now it is all sad and silent here, and the only noise at 
Chalcis was the chirping of a little bird under a thistle in 
the sun. From these graceful ruins a large grisly beast 
came out to stare, but I could not get near enough to see 
whether he was a hyena or only a jackal, and at five hun-- 
dred yards a shot from my gun merely splintered the rock. 
Unfortunately the rifle itself had no claim to my confidence, 
for it shot alwaj^s to the right, as is often the case when a 
gun-barrel for shot and another for ball are welded togeth- 
er as a double-barrel."^ 

A cold biting breeze from the snows of great Hermon 
gave zest to the ride, and brought us to Dimes, where I 
went off for game with the rifle, but marched in vain over 
the mountains, until, after two hours, I met on the highest 
peak a splendid eagle, feasting on some quarry, with his 
broad wings outstretched, as he stamped with his talons and 
chuckled, tearing with ravenous beak the bloody living 
flesh. 

Our meeting was so sudden, and after so long with noth- 
ing to do, that I lost my presence of mind, and, instead of 
stalking up to easy distance, which my gray coat and gray 

* The bores are seldom parallel, and the thickness of metal being unequal 
for the two, there is a deflection caused by their expansion when heated. 



120 



eagle's nest. 



helmet would have facilitated, especially when the hungry 
bird was carving his dinner, I at once unslung my rifle, 
dropped on one knee in " Hythe position," and aiming at 
three hundred yards, flashed quick the sudden trigger, but 
only hit the hare, which was being devoured piecemeal, 
and was yet quite warm, nor had its glazing eye yet ceased 
to quiver, while the eagle mounted in reluctant circles only 
half fed. 





eagle's kest. 



It may well be evident from these records of failure 
with the gun that, if my paddle had not been better than 
my powder, the Eob Eoy's cruise would have been rather 
a bore ; but it is one thing to hit a target on a rifle-range, 
with the distance known and the shooter cool, and a very 
different thing to fire at rough game on the open. Next 
day at El Hameh, the Arab host of the house we put up at 
received very gladly a little paper which I was very sorry 



SOUKCE OF THE ABANA. 



121 



to find was not in Arabic, but in Turkish — the same in let- 
ters, but not in words. However, this man could also read 
a printed sheet in French, and he went on translating it to 
a congregation in the next room, while at every sentence 
every body said " Um !" as a token of assent. 

A stormy sky and cold rain next morning were all in 
keeping with a wild ride over the bleakest of hills, and 
through deep dales gushing with waterfalls to Ain Fiji,* a 
source of the Abana, not the highest, but far the largest 
of its springs. In a dark dell here, all shadowed by rug- 
ged cliffs, f is a sudden change of scene, where water peren- 
nial quickens life in the soil, and while the snow is thick 
above, and reaches down in long streamers as far as it dares 
to enter the warm vale, the blooming little garden by the 
fountain below is redolent with walnut-trees, apricots, 
olives, and long trailing vine branches, tangling the tall 
poplars. Here stand the ruins of two bluff old temples, 
and the massive stones of an arch^ from out of which 
bursts a pure and copious river, rushing at once into light 
with a roar as if free, and staggering over rocks and boul- 
ders for about seventy yards, till it tumbles into the ravine 
and meets the other branch, and so forms the Barada, the 
ancient Abana, the river by which the Eob Eoy will enter 

* My dragoman, who seemed to have a mimite and delicate apprehension 
of Arabic, his native tongue, said that this word Fiji means, "premature, 
imripe, or sudden." Mr, Palmer, the traveller in Sinai, whose acquaintance 
mth the language may be acknowledged as almost unrivalled, appeared to 
think that "Fiji," if it be the word with, a short first syllable, "Fidji," de- 
notes a source from which the water ascends and then spreads, and that in 
an Arabic poem it is contrasted with another word, indicating a source where 
the water descends or trickles down. This meaning of the term Fiji com- 
pounds with the actual character of the source so named. Can the word 
" Feejee," as a name of islands in the Paoific, be related to this Arabic term ? 
Reland makes the "Figa " the Belus. 

t The dip of the strata here is 49°, according to the obseiwation of Cap- 
tain Wilson, R. E., who, with Lieutenant Anderson, R. E., on behalf of the 
Palestine Exploration Fund, sun-eyed part of Syria and Palestine in 1865-'6. 
The unpublished MS. notes of their journey have been kindly lent to me for 
perusal, and when the information obtained from this valuable and accurate 
source is embodied in these pages, the reference to it is made simply under 
the name ' ' "Wilson. " 



122 



IX-DOOES. 



m 












1 i ' 




1 1 ^ 









Tl.n SOTRCE OF THE ABAXA. 



Damascus. TVe took shelter from rain in a Moslem house, 
and the inmates were amazed to see mv canoe cuisine," 
by which in ten minutes I prepared four cups of good 
English tea. They had never heard of " tchai " (tea) be- 
fore, and a wax-match to each of the prettv daughters 
pleased also their grave papa, who said it was the third 
day of the Eamadan. when none of them eat, drink, or 
smoke, from 4 a.:m. to 5 P.:\i., but then the whole night is 
passed in these three engagements. Such is Mohammedan 
fasting."^ He and his family and visitors were respectfully 
quiet while the Bible was read at our morning prayers. 

TThile the rain patters at Dimes, we can glance round 
our lodgings and take notes. My room, then — vacated of 
course bv the familv — is about twentv feet bv fourteen 



* Abd-el-Kader. the brave veteran Arab of Algeria, resides near Damas- 
cus, but his observance of the fast is so strict a seclusion that I found it im- 
possible to get an inteniew with him. 



CATS. 



123 



wide. I know the breadth exactly, for the Eob Eoy re- 
clines by my side, and just fits into the apartment. The 
walls are mud, but well plastered, and neatly whitewashed. 
Hollow arched spaces are left in them here and there as 
cupboards and shelves, just as one sees in the stone dwell- 
ings of old Bashan. There is a window, with shutters, 
but no glass. The floor is raised eighteen inches above 
the doorway entrance, and is spread with mats, but there 
are no tables or chairs. Our table and camp-stools from 
the tent supply the want. The ceiling is of two logs un- 
hewn ; across them are barked trees, about two feet apart, 
and again across these are bundles of sticks, over which is 
a flat mud roof After rain you will see a little boy with 
a stone roller smoothing the roof to fill up the sun-cracks. 
In one corner of the room is a great copper salver, three 
feet wide, and a candlestick three feet high. A mirror is 
near; it is evidently made in Damascus, with the golden 
crescent on its frame. This is the first mirror I have look- 
ed into for many a day, and surely the glass must be of a 
rich brown tint — or is it my countenance that colors the 
portrait ? The door is closed by a wooden bolt, with a key 
such as I have described before, and the lock can only be 
opened from the inside; but near it there is a hole in the 
door through which the hand can be put from the outside, 
for a friend to open with the key and so let himself in. 
Does not this remind one of the beautiful expression in 
Canticles, which seems to tell that Christ is an intimate 
of the believer, and can admit Himself into the heart-home 
of his friend. Outside the room are my little band of fol- 
lowers ; we are in all, as yet, only seven men, six mules, 
and two horses. A dog with me as a pet would have been 
great fun, and good to keep off the cats of the house, which 
pester me sadly. I don't like them, but I don't like to hurt 
them, though they spring on the table and nibble my bread. 
Throwing nutshells at them answered at first, but then 
boots had to be thrown, and at last I found that cold wa- 
ter was what they most fear, so they all scamper off when I 
take up a tumbler, and they escape in a bound through the 



124 



A PUZZLE. 



hole in the door. At night I stuffed mj large sponge into 
this hole, and that puzzled the cats, but at 2 a.m. they had 
pulled this out, so I had to rise in the cold and fasten the 
entrance by a riding-boot, which they tugged at for an hour 
in vain. 



THE ABANA. 



125 



CHAPTER YIII. 

The Abana. — Sources. — ^Abana and Pharpar. — Their Names. — Canalettes. 
— Start on Abana. — Change to the Taura. — How to do it. — Pleasant Toil. 
— ^Procession. 

We are now about to descend the first of five or six 
rivers explored in this journey, and which run through 
channels where important parts are entirely inaccessible 
except in a boat, and as no voyager has been mentioned in 
history to have floated on them thus, it may well be sup- 
posed that their full beauties and all their dangers have 
never been seen before. The Abana passes straight through 
Damascus, the oldest inhabited city in the world,* and so 
v/e may linger on its wavelets with the deep interest 
aroused by the far-gone past, while telling how the stream 
flows as newly seen. 

When we are asked where is the source of a river, it is 
necessary to agree about the meaning of the term 
" source." 

" The historic source " of a river, or that which is writ- 
ten about soonest, is by no means sure to have been the 
most distant or the most copious one, or the most constant 
origin of its waters, though it may be the most accessible, 
or the most striking in appearance and interesting from 
local associations. Thus it will be seen hereafter that the 
" historic source " of the Jordan at Laish is not that which 
we should now style "the source of Jordan," if describing 
or exploring the river for the first time thoroughly. 

Then there is the "geographical source," that which 
ought to be reached by following up the largest perennial 

* Josephus says that Damascus was foimded by Uz, the son of Shem 
(" Antiq. of the Jews," ch. vii. sec. iv.). The Arabic name of Damascus is 
Sham. 



126 



SOURCES. 



stream where the river is formed by tributaries. But here 
again there is the doubt whether we ought not to follow 
up the longest tributary rather than the largest, so as to 
reach what may be termed the " theoretical source " of the 
river. The Mississippi flows into the Missouri, but as the 
former was probably seen first, it gives its name to the 
united stream, though every one who has been upon them 
both knows well that the Missouri is the longest and is 
also the largest of the two at their junction. This difficulty 
as to whether we should cite for the source of a river the 
water which has run the longest, or the largest, or the 
loudest, occurs constantly in our paddling tours. It was a 
puzzle on the Danube to say whether that, the largest river 
of Europe, rises at Donaueschingen (whence the water 
comes to it most) or at St. Georg (whence the water comes 
to it farthest); and with respect to the most interesting- 
rivers of Syria, the Abana and the Jordan, the question is 
even more difficult, for to displace the " historic source " of 
either is to tamper with the tradition of some thousand }' ears. 

The splendid gushing forth of the Fiji under the cliff at 
the end of the Antilebanon is at once the most striking and 
most copious source of the Abana, and we have pictured 
it already at p. 122, though it was very difficult to make a 
satisfactory sketch of the scene ; but the limb joined there 
has come from the west through a marvellous glen, so steep 
that I could only see it in safety by lying down on the 
cliff to look over ; and opposite were the ruins of Abila, 
the city of Abel, under high snow-peaks.f 

* The three other more distant sources are marked in Vandevelde as fol- 
lows : — (1.) Kear Ami El Ha^yar, north of Zebedany, under Jebel Euzma, not 
far from a tributary of the Litany, which river falls into the Mediterranean ; 
(2.) west of Zebedany, running through the Wady elKuni, but this seemed to 
me quite dry; (3.) west of Rukleh, under Hei-mon, near Kefr Kook ; but 
this, though the ground was very wet and marshy, appeared to have no flow. 
The springs of Abana here are near a source of Jordan, and the river Oron- 
tes rises not very far away. Thus four rivers rise and flow north, south, 
east, and west. Porter states that the Abana rises in a little lake, 300 yards 
long, in the plain of Zebedany, 1100 yards above the sea-level, and falls 400 
yards before reaching Damascus, i. e., 50 feet in the mile. 

t Another Abila, now " Abeel," is marked on Map V. 



ABANA AND PHARPAE. 



127 



■ It may, however, be stated broadly, that the Abana rises 
from the Antilebanon range, while the Pharpar rises from 
Hermon. These rivers are entirely distinct in their rise 
and in their flow,* their characters and their use, as well 
as in their terminations, and yet the "Abana and Phar- 
par" are represented in many maps as united, for their 
identity is disputed, and their very names are interchanged 
even by Jews at Damascus.f 

The Arabic word "Barada" means small hail or hard 
snow, and is very appropriate when the hail and sleet are felt 
so near the river. After a careful reading of what is written 
by the best authorities upon this subject, it seems plain that 
the Barada is the old Abana:f (the middle a of both words 



Whiston states that the city Ablemain (or Abellane in Josephiis's copy) is 
the same as Abilo, and considers that Christ referred to the shedding of the 
blood of Abel the righteous within the compass of the land of Israel, in His 
prophecy, Matt, xxiii. 35, 36 ; Luke xi. 51 (" Antiq. of the Jews," book viii. 
ch. xii, sec, iv. In ch. xiii. sec. vii. Josephus speaks of the prophet "Elisha 
of the city of Abela." 

* Except by the artificial conjunction of their waters led off by a canal 
from each, meeting at half a mile from Muaddamyeh : I heard that the united 
water is delicious (see Map V.). 

t It appears clearly from the following passages in p. 54. of Rabbi Schwartz 
that he makes the Pharpar to be the north river, and the Abana the south 
one. "Not far from the village Dar Kanon (Hazar Enan), there is a village 
called Eidjeh (the Eiga of Parah ; viii. 10), north of Avhich is the source of 
the stream of the same name, which flows south-easterly to Damascus, and 
unites with the Amanah near the lake Murdj. Now this stream is the Phar- 
par, as it is still called by our fellow-Israelites in the vicinity, according to a 
tradition which they have. In case, therefore, that a divorce takes place in 
Damascus, they write in the letter of divorce, ' at Damascus, situated on the 
two rivers Am ana and Phai-par.' " 

"About 1|- English miles north of the village Beth al Djana is found a 
large spring, called Al Barady, that is to say, "the cold." Its waters are 
clear atid excellent for drinking, and it flows north-east to Damascus. This 
river, formerly called Chiysorrhoas (Gold River), and known in the Talmud 
Baba Bathra, 746, as the Karmion, is the identical Amanah of the Bible, as 
it is actually called by all the Jews of Damascus." Neubauer says the Kar- 
mion is the Kishon ("La Geographie du Talmud," 1868, p. 32). 

Pococke seems to suggest that the Eiji, or, as the Arabs called it, Eara, 
may be the Pharpar, and the Barada the " Abna" (" Pinkerton's Voyages," 
vol. x. p. 503). 

X Meaning " made of stone " (Cruden), perhaps from its rocky bed. 



128 



AETIFICIAL CONDUITS. 



is pronounced short), and the Awaj is the Pharpar, which 
latter name in Chaldee means " crooked," as Awaj does in 
Arabic. Benjamin of Tudela, who lived A.D. 1160, calls'^ 
the Abana the Amana. This may be a mode of pronounc- 
ing the word Abana (readily passing into "Amana," as 
will be found from trial). Porter cites it as probably 
giving the name to the mountain whence it flowed, and as 
part of his strong argument for the identification of the 
Abana and the Pharpar with the Barada and Awaj. It is 
in Solomon's Song (chap. iv. ver. 8) that we find this beau- 
tiful name of a mountain : " Come with me from Lebanon, 
my spouse, with me from Lebanon : look from the top of 
Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the 
lions' den, from the mountains of the leopards." 

Josephusf speaks of the "mountains Taurus and Ama- 
nus ;" and again, " Syria and Amanus and the mountains 
of Libanus." Pliny mentions the " hill Avanus " (lib. v, 
ch. xxii.). 

Having traced the Abana on foot from very near its far- 
thest source to the Fiji, and thence on horseback clearly to 
the bridge at Doomar, I consider that its course so far is 
well given in Yandevelde's map. But here we notice at 
once that, just as the Nile, as it runs on, lessens in volume 
partly by evaporation and absorption, partly by the artifi- 
cial conduits which bear away large portions to water the 
country around, so the Abana is early seized upon for dis- 
tribution, and grows thinner as it runs. The highest con- 
duit from it above Doomar, called the Yezid, runs among 
the hills northward, and was said to go as far as " Tadmor 
in the wilderness ;" but it ends in the plain. This flows in 
a winding channel, seven feet wide and three feet deep, 
which I followed on foot for miles. A second, about 
twelve feet wide, the Toura,:}: branches out below Doomar; 

* Purchas's "Pilgrims," ii. 1448. 

t " Antiq. of the Jews," book i, ch. vi. sees. i. and vi. 

X Query from the Taurus of Josephus? In an Arabic version (of the 
eleventh century) the Pharpar is called Tourah in 2 Kings v. 12, and the 
Abana is called Barda. VandcA^elde marks the Berdy River flowing into the 
Awaj (see Map III.). The Awaj was no doubt crossed by Jacob (Gen. 



CANALETTES. 



129 



and there are said to be other canalettes on the south side 
of the river made for the same purpose, to irrigate the plain. 
The best detailed account I have met with of these water- 
ways is by Pococke (in " Pinkerton's Voyages," vol. x. p. 
503, written so long ago as A.D. 1745). According to these 
the Yezid and Toura do not enter the town of Damascus. 
The Acrabane, or Serpentine Eiver, passes close by the 
north wall of the town (and by this I entered the place), 
while the other four streams pass through the town, and 
one more waters a village in the plain. Some of these 
rivers are under-ground, and may often be seen and heard 
through holes in the surface. Numerous other tunnels are 
formed by connecting wells opened at successive levels. 
Some of these are marked on Yandevelde's map by a line 
on the plain where they are spent in irrigation. Most of 
the streams indicated on maps as if they were tributaries do 
in fact run out of the main river. Two days were employ- 
ed on foot or in the saddle in examining these complicated 
waterways. The time was not spent fruitlessly, for it show- 
ed me why Naaman^ might well speak of the Abana as 
superior to Jordan, seeing that the former river waters a 
whole city and about a hundred villages and thousands of 
acres of richest land ; whereas the Jordan, below the Sea of 
Galilee, waters only a strip of jangle. Certainly, as a work 
of hydraulic engineering, the sj-stem and construction of 
the canals by which the Abana and Pharpar are used for 
irrigation may be still considered as the most complete and 
extensive in the world. A previous examination of my 
course on the Abana was also necessary before launching 

xxxi.). As to the Yezid reaching Tadmor, it may be remarked that Josephns 
says (" Antiq. of the Jews," b. viii. ch. vi. sec. i.) : "Now the reason why the 
city lay so remote from the parts of Syria that are inhabited is this ; that 
below there is no water to be had, and that it is in that place only that there 
are springs or pits of water." 

* In the account of Elisha given by Josephus, he has omitted all mention 
of the miracle wrought upon Naaman. Whiston considers that a part of 
the original is wanting here. Lepers are alluded to in another place, and 
amongst them "great captains of amaies" ("Antiq. of the Jews," book iii. 
ch. xi. sec, iv, ; and book ix. ch. iv.). 

I 



130 



START ON ABANA. 



the Eob Eoj upon a stream too strong to remount, and 
too much hemmed in by forest and crags to let any man 
come near for help, however much the need might be. 

The village of Doomar was all astir when the canoe came 
down to the bridge for a start. Although I had resolved 
to begin there, and all the spectators were expecting, amid 
silence almost enforced upon them by the loud rushing of 
waters, I altered my plan at the last moment, for there was 
one particular rapid with a fallen tree across which on 
closer inspection seemed absolutely too dangerous, at least 
for the first essay upon rapids in a new boat, and with so 
many rivers to come, and unknown and unavoidable dan- 
gers to be met in them. The people were much disap- 
pointed by this prudent refusal. Some of them had ridden 
out from Damascus to see the wonder (having heard of the 
expected event by telegraph); but it is one of the small, 
useful bits of wisdom one learns in canoeing, not to mind in 
the least what the natives say or think upon matters about 
which they are profoundly ignorant. 

The river we are now launched upon is like a Scotch 
salmon-stream, with high snow-clad mountains on one side 
and bluff rocks on the other, leaving now and then a green 
flat sward between crags and boulders and gravel-banks 
well clothed with trees, among which the French road 
winds. This is the only piece of real carriage-way in all 
Syria, and its presence in this valley at once Europeanizes 
the scene ; but the Abana soon runs out of sight of all such 
detestable civilization, and pours its old stream, as it did in 
Abraham's time, gushing under the thickets and round the 
lonesome rocks with a merry onward gait, too fast to let 
you stop to look how fast it runs or how wide. Part of 
the river — the Taura arm, branching to the north — passes, 
like a broad mill-race, under the road ; and for variety the 
Eob Eoy followed along this on a higher level, while the 
main water soon gets much lower, running at a more head- 
long pace ; but the Taura goes at last through a dark tun- 
nel in the cliff, and it would have been madness to follow 
it there, so I dragged the canoe down again to the old river, 




GORGE OF THE ABANA. 



HOW TO DO IT. 



133 



and plunged once more out of sight into places perhaps 
never seen before, though very beautiful. The pace quick- 
ens as we approach the cut of the great gorge, and there is 
a goodly sound of waters echoed from lofty rocks. After 
months upon the quiet level of the Suez Canal, and the 
oily-running Nile, and the waves of the Red Sea, and the 
broad sheet of Lake Menzaleh, it was true luxury to be 
whirled in the swift eddies of Abana, and to speed at a 
liver's galop among rocks and forests, where the midriff is 
tickled in the paddler's breast by the sensation often felt on 
a high rope-swing, and the mind expands into an exulting 
glee, always begotten by rapids encountered alone. Many 
birds and animals were roused from their uninvaded haunts, 
and splashed into the stream or scurried away, rustling 
among the dusky brakes. The canoeist soon finds that it 
is impossible to note these pretty companions when he is 
in this sort of river ; for the stream carries you suddenly 
to where a dozen prostrate trees are tangled in the water, 
w^hile their straggling roots hold fast to the bank. A heavy, 
treacherous rock overhangs on the left, and the right shore 
is steep with soft mud. The whole picture of this is pre- 
sented in an instant as you round a point, and the decision 
how to deal with it must be instantly made, or the current 
itself will decide. 

" Strong to the left hand, seize that bough with the 
right. Swing round a quarter-circle, then duck the head 
for ten seconds under that thorn, and shoot across below 
the second tree, drift under the third, and five strokes will 
free us, surely." After settling all this as the course to be 
pursued, at the first paddle-stroke out splashes a shrieking 
bird, rattling the close thicket of canes as he plunges into 
the water. 

Now if you look at him, even for an instant, in such a 
place, the whole programme above is in confusion- — the 

* It was soon found that this new canoe, with its long floor adapted for 
sleeping in and sailing, was thereby rendered much less "handy" in rapids 
than my Norway Rob Roy. Every canoe is a compromise between the 
qualities of steering, stowage, sailing, strength, and speed; 



184 



PLEASANT TOIL. 



bongh knocks your hat off, the rock catches your paddle, 
and the third tree gets hooked in your painter. This comes 
of minghng ornithology with canoe-craft, and yet it is in 
just such a place that strange birds are most likely to be 
flushed. 

My dragoman on his horse, and a muleteer on mine, rode 
along through orchards or water-meadows, and closing to 
the rapid river wherever they might get a glimpse to see 
me pass in safety, ever shouting among the crags that echo- 
ed his voice, "Kob Eoy !" the usual hail we had for each 
other. Meantime I was swiftly borne away into a thicket 
of trees, with magnificent towering crags and snow behind 
them. The Abana here was about sixty feet broad, but 
every mile we go down it has less of water, for the cana- 
lettes lead off the precious liquid right and left, to far-away 
meads and long dry plains. The stream is swift, and tum- 
bles along in a rugged bed, with a very lively noise. I had 
to jump out into the water at least twenty times, and used 
a strong pole as a prop in fording the powerful current. 
At one or two places I had to haul the boat round on land, 
where the trees met over the water and their branches 
were interlaced, or their trunks had fallen in root foremost. 
Next came a weir for a mill, a waterfall and torrents of foam 
with dense woods all round, through which no one could 
see me as I waded, and shoved, and dragged away, but al- 
ways, somehow, getting onward, and most thoroughly en- 
joying the varied exercise on so bright a sunny day. The 
amount of labor involved in a voyage of this kmd will be 
understood by the fact that with every effort to get on, the 
canoe was five hours in reaching a point which is only one 
hour distant by the road at a walk. After I had battled 
with all the difficulties which could be crammed into this 
time, panting with a tried but wholesome excitement, the 
sun suddenly appeared, that had been hidden by rocks or 
trees ; the gorge had loosed its hold of us, and the canoe 
soon floated along the now placid river, while Damascus, 
old Damascus! gleamed out brilliant before me in the even- 
ing light, with its groves of green, and white shining walls, 



PKOCESSION. 



135 



and airy minarets, a glorious scene. The far-famed ap- 
proach to this city from the west, which unfolds upon the 
traveller all its gentle beauty from a lofty hill, I had well 
remembered nineteen years ago; who could forget it? 
That is one of the sights of the world, but the sudden 
emerging now from rapids, and rocks, and dense jungle, into 
the broad day, with such a picture before me, was more 
striking by far than the other view, especially to one who 
was the first to see it. 

And now the river itself seemed tired of the struggle, 
and it gurgled, almost sleeping, betv/een the green meadow 
banks. There a most pleasant repast was spread on the 
soft grass, and the little knot of wondering Turks which 
soon collected, was good proof that even Moslems, with all 
their apathy, could not help looking at a boat on the river. 
Then the Eob Roy glided into the town itself, under the 
bridges, round the dripping aqueducts, past the barracks, 
close up to the Pasha's palace; and two men carried her 
wearied hull safe to the hotel with colors flying, Hany 
singing, mud splashing, Moslems wondering, and the hotel 
folks bowing. 



136 



DAMASCUS DOCK. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Damascus Dock.^ — Pretty Girls. — Eastern Desert. — Reconnoitre -The Rob 
Roy on Horseback. — Latoof. — On Abana. — Celebrated Canoeists. — BraA^e 
Guards. — Tent-life. — Harran. — Mirage. — " Abraham's Well." — Plmig- 
ing. — Ateibeh Morass. — " Ko-ax Ko-ax." 

Demetri's Hotel is like other houses of Damascus, with 
the rooms round a large court-yard, looking inward upon 
a broad marble basin, where fountains copious and cool 
sprinkle soft music, with gentle splashings never ceasing; 
and little rivulets pour in as they gleam under the colored 
sunbeams that dart through vine-branches, and orange- 
trees ; and gaudy-hued dresses are flitting about— for it is 
the people's clothes you see in the East, the faces of the 
fair are all closely bandaged up. 

There, on the cool water, I placed the canoe, with her 
blue sails set, and her golden flag reposing. Soon began 
the long line of visitors; each one, as he left, sent in a doz- 
en friends to see. Even the Pasha of Damascus came, and 
the English Consul; and the Arabic newspaper gravely 
chronicled the arrival of the canoe, in the same page with 
the movements of the Greek iron-clads, stirring up their 
fires then for a European war. 

On Sunday (December 21) the Consul had an English 
service, and among the five present was Mrs. Thompson, of 
Beyrout, who — indefatigable woman — had come here to 
open her new school-house. This is large and roomy, and 
very suitable for its purpose. After you have struggled 
up and down dingy lanes, ankle-deep in mud, you enter a 
substantial pile of buildings, and under the gilded carving 
of these roofs, the girls of Damascus stand silent and smil- 
ing, to wait for their kind Christian " mother," with Bibles 
in their hands. Not long ago a Giaour dared scarcely to ride 
through the streets of the town, and in my former visit 



PRETTY GIRLS. 



187 



there our very mules were taken by force, because we were 
" Nussarenes." Now there are schools and " Bible-wom- 
en," supported by the ladies of Turkish harems here, who 
saw their own children able to read, while the mothers 
were ignorant and cried to their husbands, "Why are ive 
to be less blessed than our children ?" Among the forty- 
four young people who had assembled in the school, there 
were Jewesses, Greeks, Moslems, and Christians. I never 
saw so many pretty faces among a like number of 
girls. As for their dresses, they were so varied, so 
graceful, so suitable to womankind, that one could not 
but lament that our climate (for of course the fault is not 
ours) has so grievously contorted our feminine toilet. 
Mrs. Thompson was received with a gush of welcome and 
sweet greeting. She went round the circle of girls, and 
kissed each of them in turn, not with a mere " general sa- 
lute," but a tender look from heart to heart, a special clasp 
for every one, that made each child feel her embrace was 
meant in good earnest. This was indeed a pretty sight for 
a rough-bearded traveller to see. 

I do not enlarge upon the importance of sustaining this 
school. One thought of Saul and Paul stamps Damascus 
on a Christian's heart, and fixes it as a post of duty for the 
brave and the generous, who have gone out there to labor 
for Christ's sake. Nor is it only Paul of the past, but shall 
we not see him ourselves in a future we know not how 
near, and speak to him then of Damascus ? Let us cher- 
ish a vivid sense of heaven in its reality as a life. 

The girls sang gentle hymns, and then the whole of 
them listened to an English address, which was very well 
interpreted, as also a prayer. At Damascus I met Mrs. 
Digby, the English wife of a great Arab chief, and, when 
in English society, her quiet manner as a lady makes one 
forget that her husband has some thousand spearmen at 
his beck, and that to get to Palmyra with their aid, the cu- 
rious traveller must pay a heavy black-mail of yellow gold. 

On a hill above Damascus is the celebrated " wely," or 
little domed chapel, where first, as you journey eastward, 



138 



EECONNOITRE. 



the splendid panorama bursts upon the view. Looking 
from this over the vast plain, long ago I had observed in 
the distance, tremulous with mirage^ two huge black va- 
por pillars, which drifted slowly across the limitless flat. 
These were sand-clouds, whirled aloft by the breeze, and I 
was told that they were coursing over a silent and desolate 
region, almost unknown, through which the river Abana 
ran, and though it had run there for ages, the life-blood of 
thousands, and was praised in every language, and sung of 
in melodious verse, and fabled in prose, it melted away in 
the desert somehow, nobody knew how. 

The Kob Eoy had come to this region, and to probe the 
inviting mystery of the ancient river's end. But all in- 
quiries as to how she could follow the Abana to the east 
were baffled more every day by the stolid ignorance or stu- 
pid exaggeration with which natives complicate any stran- 
ger's effort to do what ought to have been done long ago by 
themselves. The united testimony asserted that the canoe 
might be taken by land if I could mount her upon a horse, 
but to float her by water all the waj^ was impossible ; and 
this was precisely what we meant to do. They all agreed, 
too, in describing the bleak morass at the end as " impene- 
trable," full of whirlpools, which sucked people down ; of 
hyenas, panthers, and wild boars, which ate people up ; and 
of fevers, agues, snakes, jungle, sun-strokes, and many other 
horrible things. 

As usual, we found that there was just one peg of truth 
in each of these warnings whereon to hang a huge fiction, 
and that nothing in the tale had the merit of pure inven- 
tion. To reconnoitre the land and water of at least the 
first day's route, Hany and I rode along the banks near 
Abana. The river's speed was moderate now, for it was 
running through a plain, but the intricacies of its navigation 
were most perplexing, because the water branched out right 
and left into numerous channels, of which one only could 
be the right one, and nobody could tell us that one. It is 
only by a ride of this sort that one can appreciate the rich- 
ness and beauty of the Damascus plain, or can understand 



THE ROB ROY ON HORSEBACK. 



139 



the marvellous ingenuity and perseverance with which the 
Abana has been led through the desert to water it. In 
Egypt, indeed, the sluices and canalettes are intricate 
enough, but nothing to what is done here. Banks, dams, 
lashers, and weirs, seem to force the water into every nook 
of the country ; to force it underground, and, as it were, 
even up hill, until every available drop has been wrung 
out for use. Below the shady groves, athwart bright level 
meads, oozing over, murmuring beneath, and softly hurry- 
ing by, there is water everywhere, and nearly all this from 
that one river which has fed millions of people for ages of 
time, and if this river stopped, Damascus would perish. 
The problem of carrying the canoe on a quadruped was 
new and difficult, but it must be solved, as complete prepa- 
ration for months of journey, where much was over mount- 
ain and plain. AU, my chief muleteer (an excellent fel- 
low to the limits of his calling), was therefore consulted, 
and he looked grave for two days, after which he proposed 
that the Eob Eoy should be slung crossways over a mule, 
so of course his further suggestions were useless. 




POLE FEAME. 



After thought and experiment, I went out and bought 
two strong poles, each sixteen feet long, and about three 
inches thick at the larger end. These were placed on the 
ground two feet apart, and across them, at three feet from 
each end, we lashed two stout staves, about four feet long, 
which resulted in a frame like that shown in the sketch. 
Then a " leading horse was selected, a strong, docile, 

* Most good caravans have a ' ' leading horse " in the van. He costs double 
the price of the others, but he is well worth the expense : he finds the way 
for all, keeps up the pace, and is very soon recognized as a guide by the other 



140 



LATOOF. 



sure-footed creature. On his back a large bag of straw 
was well girthed, and flattened down above. The frame 
of poles was firmly tied on this, and a crowd looked on as 
we wrapped the canoe in carpets and placed her on the 
frame, and the moment it was there I saw the plan would 
succeed. For three months this simple method enabled 
us to take the Eob Eo}^ over sand and snow, over rock 
and jungle, across mud and marsh — anywhere, indeed, 
where a horse could go; and therefore, perhaps, it de- 
serves to be described. The frame was elevated in front, 
so as to allow the horse's head some room under the 
boat's keel. Two girth-straps kept the canoe firml}^ in posi- 
tion above, and carpets were cushioned under its bilge. 

It will be seen from the sketch of this boat-frame that, 
in the event of a collision with a rock or a tree, or if the 
horse had a stumble and fall on the ground, the shock 
would be received upon one or other of the four projecting 
points, instead of striking the canoe itself. To lead the 
horse by a long rope (though for many a day he was ever 
shortening it), we told off Adoor, a gentle, half-witted, raw- 
looking 3^outh, who was brought with us because with a 
charming voice he sang so sweetly that all his faults were 
drowned in his music. In sharp contrast to him was La- 
toof^ a powerful fellow, purposely chosen at Beyrout to 
hold fast to the canoe in every difficulty, grasping the 
frame as he trudged through the pools, or clambered the 
rocks, or swayed the high top-heavy burden right and 
left, when fierce gusts of wind threatened to overturn us 
all. To guide these three came Han}^ next behind on his 
plucky little Arab, with a hundred and one things in his 
saddle-bags (and always the things one wanted most), his 
cocoa-nut nargilleh dangling at his side, and his double-bar- 
rel rifle slung upon his back. Without him personally, 
and his care over all, there is no doubt in my mind that 
our long new way of travel in the East could not have 
been finished, as it was, without one check, or disaster, or 

mules, horses, and donkies. Indeed, thev are restless ^yitllout him, and wan- 
der about in straggling disorder. 



ON THE ABANA. 



in 



break-down, without one day lost, or the slightest injury 
to any of us, men, horses, mules, donkeys, and boat. 

Another secret of success was the elaborate preparation 
of minutiae, and the stern resolve that every thing to be 
used should be of the best, as the clearest economy in the 
long ran, when any failure might cost a day's delay, and 
the cost of a day was never less than three pounds.^ 

Those delights or dangers of the river which the canoe- 
man might meet with anywhere, we need not describe in 
this story, having plenty to tell that is peculiar to the place 
and the people. However, as this stream of Abana has 
not been boated upon before, it may be well to inform the 
next canoeist that, below the first mill beyond Damascus, 
we found it full of interest and variety.f The water was 
now red in color and two feet deeper than before, being 
swollen high by mountain storms, and the channel led us 
away and away among orchards and groves and thick osier- 
beds and smiling water-meadows. Tortoises sleeping on 
the bank toppled into the stream as we passed, and land- 
crabs lazily crawled out of sight. There were many wild 
ducks in the river brakes, most of them too fat or lazy to 
rise, and I had to get out only seven or eight times to haul 
the canoe past obstructions, until on a sudden the ruddy 
current bore the Rob Roy right into an impassable jungle 
of osiers ten feet high. This sort of obstacle, or a marsh 
full of deep holes, are the only real troubles to the canoeist, 
if we except (as very unusual) a river covered with small 
hewn logs, such as I met in Norway on the River Yrangs ; 
but even then I had only to drag the boat for a mile 
through a lonely wood. Rapids however long, waterfalls 
however high, can be passed on the land by persevering 

* The same dragoman, providing also the best materials in 1849, charged 
£2 per diem for myself and a companion. The increased expense now of 
about 100 per cent, is accounted for by the Crimean war, the Abyssinian 
expedition, and the cattle murrain, which raised the price of animals and 
labor. 

t The general route of our journey may be ti'aced on Map VIII,, while 
Map II. (p. 142) and Maps III. and IV. (p. 171) give portions on a larger 
scale. 



U2 



CELEBRATED CA2s'0EISTS. 



patience. The sea between Ireland and Scotland was 
traversed bj one of our Canoe Club in his canoe ; another 
member sailed his Kob Eoy from England to France, and 
a third paddled from France to England, all in one sum- 
mer." Still, though a canoe can start from any part of 
Britain, and struggle all the way to Hong Kong, there will 
always be much difficulty in passing it through a forest of 
small trees, which may be too dense to allow the canoeist 
to shove his craft by the water, or to drag it along the 
bank. An invariable policy in such cases always brings 
relief: " Persist in the assurance that you must get 
through ; pull up to the side ; ponder on the best place, 
and shout aloud." Who would have thought that in such 
a strange jungle on the Abana there would be any one 
within reach of a call ? Yet a man was there, cutting the 
osiers, and soon his head was stretched forward. Then he 
ran ofP at once as fast as his legs could carry him. Smiles 
and soft speeches speedily brought bim back, and we soon 
shouldered the Eob Eoy together, and so passed the ob- 
struction. I slept that night at Jisrin (Map III., p. 171.) 

The Abana now ran eastward, steady and deep, in a 
tortuous way between high grass banks, with a lively day 
for enjoyment. No trees now, and no thickets, but wide 
and fruitful plains, and oxen that stopped ploughing while 
the peasants ran from their teams to see the " shaktoor." 
For miles they ran with me thus, a good-humored, smiling 
band, men, women, and children, shouting with joy, while 
statelier Turks on horses and mules kept pace alongside 
with more dignity, when any path on the bank could be 
found. Thus we came to El Keisa, and pitched our tents 
in the cemetery, while at least a hundred people sat round 
the camp in a picturesque circle, staring hard till sundown. 
It was important to make friends with these people, who 
were being rather drilled than delighted by the officious 
orderings of two Turkish soldiers I had taken with me as 
guards, spendidly mounted, miserably clothed, wretchedly 

* The names of these three members of the Canoe Chib may well be re- 
corded — Mr. R. Tennent, Mr. Bowker, and the late Hon. J. Gordon. 




HARPER * 8ROTHE1RS, N El W YORK 



TENT-LIFE. 



143 



armed, and thoroughly prepared for their only duty in 
danger — to run away. The peasants' red coats reached to 
their ankles. Every man had a staff five feet long. Some 
of the women had yashmaks, and a few of the men wore a 
black cotton kerchief (the mandeel) tied over the face, to 
moderate the reflection from the ground, and concealing 
the nose, but used in a manner I had never seen before.* 

These quaint people were easily amused by a few pleas- 
antries, and they laughed very heartily. Patting the chil- 
dren's heads pleased the little ones, and their mothers too. 
One copper-colored youngster, wallowing in the mud, ask- 
ed me for a farthing (the only beggar), but when I gave it 
to him, he asked that it might be " put by." Poor fellow ! 
he had no pocket for his purse, being as perfectly naked as 
on the day he was born. 

A long string of my new friends followed in procession 
to the village, which was of mud, but far better built than 
in Egypt. A shepherd was dozing by his flock, with a 
sword girt round his waist. A few Arab tents were near, 
and keen e3^es in them eyed me askance. I slept now in 
my tent, feeling far more lonely under canvas than when 
lodging in my canoe. It was a small square tent, sent from 
England as a present to Hany — double, of course — and 
made by Edgington, so it ought to be good, but we shall 
have it tried by jury farther on. The other round Syrian 
tent was henceforth used by the servants. 

Sweet sleep follows such a day, but the winter's dawn 
next morning can not soon struggle through English can- 
vas. Yet one awakes by habit or instinct, or by a previous 
resolve ; and, without lighting a match to see my watch, 
it was easy to tell the time by the sounds outside. First, 
there is the feeblest bustle heard in the dark, and a tink- 
ling sound as the charcoal briskly kindles in the cook's fire. 
The cock-crows (so many and loud in Palestine) are absent 
here. Soon the men around are whispering more loudly, 

* This, however, reminds one of the Towaregs one sees in Algeria, a tribe 
to the extreme south of the French settlements in the hot Sahara, where all 
the men wear black crape masks entirely covering their faces. 



TELL OF SALAHIYEH. 



and then a horse neighs. The sharp " whish" of swift 
pinions is from a wild bird overhead hieing off thus earliest 
to the hake ; then the soft regular beat of the cook's bel- 
lows gets louder, it is a turkej^'s wing waved with a sound 
like " fam, fam, fam !" At last a donkey brays. Up 
now 1 An end to sleep forever, and let the joyous splash- 
ing of my bath bespeak me eager for the happy hours of 
another bright day. Hany hears the sound, and soon 
after a '* Good-morning !" times the hot -wholesome break- 
fast to a minute. 

Among the chief features of the Abana Eiver is the fine 
Tell of Salahiyeh, a green mound that looks like Primrose 
Hill, in Eegent's Park. The excavations made here for the 
Palestine Exploration Fund, in 1866, by Mr. Eogers, are 
described in Part II. of the " Quarterly Statement." Some 
of the articles dug up were shown in the Society's Exhibi- 
tion last autumn. 

The tell had an imposing grandeur, and, at the same 
time, an air of lively interest, as the huge green mound 
seemed to turn slowly round, w^hile my canoe bore me 
floating by in the bend of the river ; but nearly all the re- 
searches in these artificial hills, so common in Palestine, 
have been barren of valuable results."^ 

* The following is the conclusion of the account I\Ir. Eogers gives of the 
excavations at Salahiyeh: — "Close to this cutting, and to the east of it, I 
made another, in which was found much broken pottery, black inside and 
red on the surface. A few stones, similar to those already mentioned, with 
bricks, mortar, and strong cement, were found. It was opened to the depth 
of 32 feet. 

' " . . .At the south of the mound, the regular layers of brick are veiy dis- 
tinct and perfect ; these bricks are about 18 inches square and 4 inches thick ; 
some pale yellow, others pale red, joined by strong mortar ; . . . some stones 
of a heart-shape were found, as if belonging to a pavement. 

"The people in the neighborhood came to me, and said that, if I wanted 
to make any discoveries, I must first propitiate the sheikh, whose tomb is on 
the top of the tell, by sacrificing a sheep in his honor. I immediately gave 
them half a sovereign, with which to purchase the victim, and my workmen 
partook of the feast. 

"... It seems to me that the tell is a solid mass of brick-work built over, 
perhaps, one chamber or more in the centre, similar to the Pyi'amids of 
Egypt ; for wherever I dig I find layeis of brick and mortar. If the tell 



MIRAGE. 



145 



After El Keisa, the Abana bas some very intricate navi- 
gation. Against my opinion — for experience points tbe 
way even in new places and by indications that can not be 
explained — I was directed down the wrong brancb of three 
into which the river had forked. At last my faithful com- 
pass told the tale so clearly that it was plain we were go- 
ing astray ; so I took the Eob B^oy across the fields to the 
right way, and we halted at a point about sixteen miles 
straight from Damascus, the village of Harran el Awamid, 
that is, "Harran of the pillars." 

These are three handsome basalt columns in the middle 
of this village. Sculptured fragments also are amongst the 
mud hovels. The pillars, standing forty feet high, served as 
a landmark to my journey for a whole fortnight, and I 
took a careful sketch of them,"^ and some bearings by com- 
pass, while the most exemplary silence prevailed among the 
wondering villagers. 

Then, by a "silver argument," the sheikh was persuaded 
to let me mount the minaret of the mosque, and for the 
first time to get a good general survey of the country about 
us, the snow hills behind, the river winding below, the far- 
off desert, the nearer plain with its hundred villages, and 
the weird morass I had come to pierce. 

• Kot a drop of water could be seen in this " Lake of 
Ateibeh," painted so prettily blue on the travelling maps. 
Mr. Kogers told me he never could see water in the marsh. 
On the other hand. Porter saw, in November, 1852, " a 
large expanse of clear water in the midst of the marsh," a 
little south of the Abana mouth, where there was not a 

were the mere store of a brick factory, there would be no mortar between 
the layers. The work, affording no promise of further discovery, was then 
abandoned." 

Captain Wilson gives the position of this tell as in 33° 30' 28" N., and 
36° 28' 02" E. The mound is 60 feet high, the largest side nearly east and 
west, and the Barada washes its southern slope. 

* It was unfortunately lost overboard, but a beautiful photograph of the 
pillars is in the series pubHshed by the Palestine Exploration Fund. The 
side pillars are not equidistant from the comer one. Wilson gives their 
height of shaft 29 feet, base 2 feet 3 inches, circumference 11 feet 7 inches. 

K 



146 



"Abraham's well." 



pond visible to me."^ In his visit to Hijaneli also, where I, 
traversed a full lake with five feet of water in it, he found 
a basin " perfectly dry." 

With such variations of the surface we are about to map, 
we must expect the contours of these marshes to be very 
different as sketched by different travellers, or at different 
times. The maps of them in Porter's " Five Years in 
Damascus " are different from those in his excellent guide- 
book (" Syria and Palestine," Murray). The Maps 11. and 
IV. of the district are made from my own compass-bear- 
ings, of which a list is given at p. 173, while the other 
parts are taken from Yandevelde's map, which I found to 
be more correct than any other. 

As for the branch of Abana passing by Harran, it was 
only a few disjointed pools. We were now on almost un- 
known territory, and it was something to know that ; but I 
instantly resolved to carry the canoe north to the next 
arm of the Abana, for it was plainly impossible to get her 
into the morass from Harran. 

By the mosque here they showed me a very ancient 
well, about six feet deep, with stones exceedingly worn.f 
This is called Abraham's Well, and Dr. Beke and others 
consider the village to be the Harran where Abraham 
dwelt " between the two rivers " (Abana and Pbarpar). 

* Partly this may be accounted for by different times of the year, and by 
wet or dry seasons, though his visit was in a season "unusually dry;" partly 
because the appearance of water is deceptive in hot regions of mirage, as one 
soon discovers by journeys on rivers and lakes, and Porter himself describes 
a phenomenon of this kind in this veiy plain (vol. ii. p. 11). Thomson 
("The Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. 288) says that the mirage, or serab, 
"thirst of the gazelle," is meant by the word translated "parched ground " in 
Isaiah xxxv. 7 : "And the parched ground shall become a pool;" and cer- 
tainly this rendering gives much force to the passage. The mirage on the 
river St. Lawrence i& perhaps the most wonderful one can see. 

t Stones are sooner worn at wells than elsewhere, and as an indication of 
antiquity this is deceptive. The edge-stones of the tanks in the Haram at 
Jerusalem are seamed several inches deep by the bucket-ropes; but Lieut. 
Warren, R. E., the clever explorer of the Holy City, told me that a year or 
two of use is enough to make a deep cut in the stone when a wet rope 
(always carrying grit with it) is constantly worked. 



PLUNGING. 



147 



Josephiis (" Antiq. of the Jews," bk. i. ch. vii. sec, ii.) 
states that Berosus writes : " Now the name of Abrarn is 
even still famous in the country of Damascus, and there is 
showed a village named from him — ' the habitation of 
Abram.' 

We bade good-bye to the amiable village "sheikh," a 
man with long, shaggy, red hair, very intelligent, and very 
sorry we were not to stop a night in his mayoralty. 

Our route lay across the verge of the morass (see Map 
IL, p. 142), but we went too far eastward, and the work 
was now very troublesome and dangerous. We soon 
found that the experienced " marsh-walker," who acted as 
guide, had never led more than cattle over these wilds, and 
the amphibious oxen here can plunge through pools that 
are impossible for laden mules and restive horses. It was 
a wide sea of shallow water, concealed by grass in tufts, 
like an Irish bog, and with soft deceptive mud, deep holes, 
and trickling streamlets. 

Hundreds of cattle stood up to their stomachs in the wa- 
ter, as our mules plunged deep above their girths, and the 
men sank down repeatedly. The guide now fairly lost 
his head, and I had to push on in front to lead, with a feel- 
ing of some responsibility in having brought to such a 
place our long cavalcade, numbering eleven men and 
twelve animalso 

At length mule after mule slipped in till only his 
shoulders were visible, and one of the little donkeys disap- 
peared under water completely, head and ears and every 
thing, but a clever muleteer caught him by the tail, and we 
pulled him out. Then he began to bray — a piteous per- 
former, all wet and muddy. I noticed that particular don- 
key's music for months afterwards was always at least 
double his natural allowance, but, in consideration of his 
gallant behavior on this occasion, he had special license 
to bray on continually to the end. The men lamented 

* Dr. Beke wrote again upon the subject of Abraham's sojourn here, in 
the " Athenffium" (April, 1869), having previously suggested that the well 
mentioned above might be Rachel's Well. 



148 



ATEIBEH MORASS. 



their moist bread (the load of the ass submerged) * but I 
cheered them up with a promise of Christmas fare, and then 
I dismounted, and punted and paddled the Rob Roj, for 
she might have been injured by a fall if carried any long- 
er on horseback. 

By the route-line on the map it will be seen that we 
were travelling nearly north along that edge of the marsh 
until at last we struck upon that branch of the Abana 
which passes near Haush Hamar; we camped by its 




MOBASS OP ATEIBEH, EAST OF BAMASCU8. 



mouth, on fine solid ground, to spend our Christmas Day, 
and the red ensign of England was soon hoisted on a high 
pole, to wave over as wild a spot as ever was seen. The 
river narrowed here to four or five yards across, with a deep 
and quiet stream.f No jackals sang out now their usual 

* In such a wild district, of course, we had to bring all our provisions from 
Damascus. In the above sketc'i is shown the Rob Roy on horseback. 

t The course of the branches is explained in a note farther on. Porter 



"ko-ax ko-ax." 



149 



lullaby we had nightly listened to before, but it is said that 
where larger beasts are near, the jackal does not cry, and I 
have generally found this to be true. The frogs owed no 
such tribute of silence, and their chant was from a thou- 
sand-throated chorus, each one croaking as loud as the 
quack of a duck.* 

states the breadth as 30 feet, but though it widens to this at a long pool by 
the ford, the average above and below that place is only one-half of this 
width. 

* The croak of a frog has been one of the best means of informing the 
modern world of the mode in which the ancient Greeks pronounced their 
beautiful language, for in an old Greek author, the frogs are made to sing 
Avhat would now be written in English " Brech-ech-ech-ex ko-ax ko-ax.'' 
Now the frogs of the nineteenth centuiy have probably been faithful to the 
pronunciation of their race in former times, and as we listen in the still 
night to their curious music, it is exactly as if one set of them — perhaps the 
tenors — the gentlemen of their choir, kept saying, ' ' Brekekekex ! " while the 
softer wooing of the ladies is uttered always as "Koax koax ko-ax." The 
din made by millions of these songsters, in a marsh many miles extended, 
is astounding. Those in the distance are heard like the sound of a railway 
train when it passes over a metal bridge. The nearer croakers, being more 
articulate, are more disturbing. Sometimes they all stop, as if by command, 
and, after a few moments of silence, the catch-note of some flippant flirt 
just whispers once, and instantly the whole Babel resumes its universal roar. 



150 



ATEIBEH MORASS. 



CHAPTER X. 

Ateibeh Morass. — Drowned in the Lake. — Menagerie. — Embarking. — Dan- 
gerous Day. — A lonely Wold. — End of the Abana. — Retreating. — Christ- 
mas on the Abana. — Thoughts. — Jsorthern Lake, — Mouths of the Abana. — 
Tell Dekweh. — Tell Hijaneh. — Hijaneh Lake. — Paddling to Bashan. — 
The Giant Cities. — Nimrim. — The Island. — In a Boar-track. — Channel. 

Here then we face this dread lake of Ateibeh, which I 
have carried the Rob Roy over the snow to explore. Be- 
hind us is a vast plain, bounded by the rocky hills and 
snow-capped mountains, and great Hermon in his cold 
white robe presiding over all. Small mud villages are 
scattered upon the grassy level. The inhabitants are very 
interesting to look at, tall, very handsome, men, women, 
and children, strong, good-tempered, healthy, and intelli- 
gent, also well dressed. They wear long robes of most 
brilliant colors, bright red predominant. Even if a man is 
in tatters, his rags are crimson. The better sort have em- 
broidered coats and earrings (not in the lobe of the ear, but 
in the small projecting flesh), and their faces are tattooed. 
Their boots are of red leather, with long turned-up toes, 
and the women seldom conceal their faces. Scores of these 
have often run a mile alongside the canoe, but I never had 
'an unkind word or act from one of them. Their villages 
are nearly surrounded by water, and not very dirty — one 
gets used to all things being reasonably dirty here. Com- 
pared with Egypt, this verge of house-habitation in the 
East (bordering the real Arab tent-folk) is a paradise. 

Great excitement was caused by the Rob Roy coming to 
such a place, because the only boat which had attempted 
this lake had a miserable end three years ago. I made 
particular inquiries as to this accident, and went to the 
spot where she launched, and saw one of the men who 
helped to find her sad wreck. From these inquiries it ap- 



DROWNED IN THE LAKE. 



151 



peared tbat two Moslems and a Christian from Ateibeh (a 
village near the lake) brought a boat from Damascus. 
They were all "fowlers," and wished to shoot more ducks 
for the market. The boat was shorter than the Eob Eoj, 
but broader, evidently a poor tub, and the three men hav- 
ing been absent in her for five days, an offer of 500 pias- 
tres* was made to any one who would find them. The vil- 
lagers selected a man who was a good swimmer, and they 
made a raft of reeds and sticks, upon which he set off naked, 
and after fifteen days he found the boat upset and the 
bodies of the three drowned men — none of them could 
swim — and each of them, in true Arab style, had strapped 
to his body his gun, ammunition, and food. So I was put 
quite at ease about this foolish adventure. 

Before us the Abana ran straight into tbe marsh for a 
quarter of a mile ; so it was evident we were at the right 
place for our essay at quagmire navigation, and the next 
thing was to determine the best mode and time and direc- 
tion for penetrating to the centre of the morass. Not an 
atom of information could be got on this subject from the 
books or the maps, of which I had three, and the best that 
the inhabitants could tell us was not reassuring; for, ac- 
cording to these, besides the panthers, hyenas, and other 
beasts, there are, worst of them all, wild boars. In ordi- 
nary times a wild boar avoids a man, but if I came upon 
him in my canoe in a marsh among tall reeds, he would 
most likely " charge " the new-comer, and one blow of his 
tusk, I knew, would finish the Eob Eoy. In such a case 
she would not float, for when mud gets inside it, even a 
life-boat will sink. Then I could not swim ashore for the 
reeds, and I could not wade or drag the boat through the 
deep pools if it were broken and jagged, nor could any 
help whatever be given from shore, because the water jun- 
gle completely hides you. 

Still the thing must be done somehow, and plans for new 
projects of this kind can not be hit off in a moment. Long 

* A piastre is about twopence of our value. Not many years ago its value 
was sixpence. 



152 



PREPARATIONS. 



consideration, and a resolve to leave nothing bap-hazard, 
are the true secrets of insuring success, and here comes in 
one of the great advantages of travelling alone — you have 
time and silence to consider maturely. You do not mar 
your plans by feeble compromises. You see, hear, and 
-think a great deal more than if a " pleasant companion " is 
beside you all day, whose small talk (and your own) must 
be run dry in a month, and neither of you is/ree. In these 
solitary expeditions I have never a sensation of loneliness. 
Hard work, healthy exercise, plain food and plenty of it, 
early hours, reading at night, and working, moving, noting, 
drawing, observing, and considering all day, one's plans 
are quietly perfected, and there is no more of tedium or 
solitary dullness than is felt when you read or fish alone, or 
paint or write in a town — the place one can feel most lone- 
ly in, after all. 

Our object was now to trace the Abana Eiver until it 
flowed no farther, and to see whether its end is in a mere 
morass or in a lake — that is, a sheet of water reasonably 
open all the year round For this purpose it was plain that 
our course ought to be always in the strongest flow and 
towards the lowest depression, which, after careful scrutiny, 
appeared to lie to the south-east. 

At break of day the compass-bearings of the chief ob- 
jects around us were accurately taken, and their align- 
ments with the snow-hills far in our rear. This was done 
to enable me to get out of the marsh by the way through 
which I came in at the end of the river, for at no other 
place could I hope to bring the Eob Eoy close to the margin. 

The canoe-compass has been already explained.* In 
taking bearings by it when afloat, I found it best to hold the 
compass to the eye with both hands, and to keep the lid 
slanted back so as to allow a long black line on its inside 
to be directed by the eye to the object, when the pressure 
of the right forefinger acting upon a stud will fix the nee- 
dle for reading off, and this being done four or five times, 
and a mean taken of the angles noticed, it is easy to obtain 
bearings within a quarter of a point. 

* See ante, p. 66. 



DANGEROUS DAY. 



153 



Having thus made every possible preparation, I ran the 
Bob Eoy to the river's mouth, with the san just rising over 
the inimitable desert on the other side of the lake, and 
gilding bold Hermon with a bright morning ray. I had 
food for two days, a double-barrelled gan, one barrel load- 
ed with ball, a long pole for working in the reeds, and a 
number of strips of calico two feet long, which I tied one 
by one at various points to the loftiest canes, that I might 
have perhaps some chance of finding my way back to the 
river's mouth. This last object was important, because, if 
in the return I arrived at any other place, it would still be 
a quarter of a mile from the verge, without water enough 
to float in, or land enough to stand upon. 

Hany, my invaluable dragoman, was to hail me every 
ten minutes until he could not hear my voice. In the first 
ten minutes I was invisible, and he saw me no more all 
day. The river ran to a clump of bushes, widened to 
twenty feet and four feet deep, and then branched out into 
five or six small streams among the reeds. The current 
became stronger, and it was impossible to forget that this 
would be all " up hill " in coming back. I had soon lost 
sight of the tents, but part of the red flag was always visi- 
ble when I stood up. Taking my bearing from this, I 
wound a long strip of calico round the tops of three high- 
est plants tied together, and carefully entered the particu- 
lars in my "log-book;" doing this all very deliberately, 
for certainty in such matters is better than speed, and any 
confusion or excitement might ruin the whole proceeding. 
From this, called " Station 'No. 1," I worked-on until it was 
nearly invisible, and then placed " Station 2," and so on. 
The plan answered admirably.* Soon I put my paddle 
away below deck, and worked with a long pole. As the 
water shallowed, I had to "punt" the canoe, standing up 
in her, and with my shoes off for better foothold, and to 
lessen the danger of making a hole in her skin, which 
would probably have let in the mud so fatal to the boat, 

* As this method may be a hint to others paddling where they can not 
see twenty yards in front, the exact notes are given at p. 173. 



154 



A LONELY WOLD. 



or by its rougti edges outside would prevent her progress 
on her return. I had shot a few ducks, for there were 
hundreds quite close, but it was impossible to retrieve 
them when they fell even a few yards off; and, moreover, 
it was soon found that all one's attention in such a place is 
required for navigation. Sporting with either the rod or 
the gun is, in my opinion, incompatible with proper prog- 
ress in discovery when only one man has to do all. 

At length I reached a point where all stream ceased, as 
was shown when the mud stirred by my pole did not ad- 
vance beyond my boat at rest — in fact, the Eob Eoy was 
now in the middle water of the marsh, and to be quite sure 
of this, I got out and waded, dragging the boat to the 
point P in Map II., at p. 142 ; but the deep holes concealed 
by clumps of grass were very troublesome, though of 
course a good wetting had to be counted on at starting, and 
the water was warm, while the mud below was cold. 

Some of these holes indeed seemed bottomless, and now I 
understood what had been so often stated to me before set- 
ting out: "There are whirlpools (as they styled them) 
which drag men down — every year men are lost even on 
the edges, and no help can reach them." These are the 
Arabs who shoot ducks which fall a few yards off in the 
marsh, and the men, eager to retrieve them, soon get over- 
head. It was one more proof added to hundreds in my 
voyages that natives speaking of what they don't under- 
stand always give the worst view of danger, but that 
there is generally something meant by them which it is 
well to understand for one's self 

Having fully satisfied myself that I was now going up 
hill to the other side of the lake, and it being noon with a 
hot sun, after four hours of tremendous labor, and craving 
for food, I sat down and enjoyed an excellent luncheon. 
How silent, how solitary, how desolate the scene in this 
wilderness of marsh. No ducks rose now, for I was quiet. 
I saw three very tiny fish, but could not catch them. One 
mosquito came to me, but he did not bite. Perhaps he 
had never been taught that man is the sweetest morsel for 



END OF THE ABANA. 



155 



his ravenous tootb. A beautiful fly buzzed about me, 
like a bluebottle of the most brilliant green. 

The faint buzzing of that fly made the silence of all else 
far deeper, for the ear was aroused by the sound, and yet 
found only that sound for its listening. It was a position, 
this, entirely unique, sitting most comfortably in a boat, 
aground, hidden, absolutely still ; time passing, but noth- 
ing doing. If you are floating on a lake, there is at least a 
scene around, or catspaws on the water, or cries from the 
shore, for variety. If you are alone in the sea, be it ever 
so glassy, there is sure to be a ground-swell gently curving 
the clouds pictured on the waves. If you rest thus on a 
river, the boat will turn round, and so a panorama seems 
to pass before the eye; and lastly, if you are alone on the 
water in the dark, you can at any rate strike a light for 
com-pany's sake.^ In every one of these cases some new 
object is likely to appear, or, if not, it may be hoped for, 
while, if sickness or death come suddenly then, there is the 
grim consolation that somebody would find the boat and the 
body. But now in this marsh I was out of the network of 
things: no change took place in the view about me, no 
event happened, I was farther away from the world than 
on the highest mountain's peak, or in the deepest mine — 
and the world was getting on very well without me. Let 
us go back to it, thoroughly convinced that the Abana 
dies in the marsh of Ateibeh, yielding its vapory spirit to 
the hot sun, as Jordan faints away in the Dead Sea, and 
so, rising into the clouds again, both of them perhaps waft- 
ed aloft to the snow-peaks where they were born, pour 
down their old waters in a current ever new, in that circuit 
of death and life which God has ordained for all. 

The end of the Abana, then, may be less sublime than 
that of the Jordan, but it is not less grim and mysterious. 

* In sailing alone from Havre to Portsmouth in my yawl, there was a sense 
of isolation when each port was fifty miles away, and no other vessel was in 
sight, but then there was always action, a movement of the waves and of the 
boat; and isolation to be felt in all its force must have absolute rest and 
silence. 



156 



RETKEATING. 



A trackless marsh, has horrors worse than the Dead Sea. 
You can float in water, but in mud you can neither swim 
nor stand, and the great slime volcano in Sicily seemed to 
me more terrible than even Etna itself. 

To turn the boat required a sweep of half a mile, and 
then I could see snowy Hermon in front, and a flutter of 
my English ensign at the tents where poor Hany, like a 
distracted mother, was waiting long hours in despair, for 
these Easterns jump from exulting joy to deepest distress 
at a bound. 

Beginning with "No. 6" guide of cotton, I traced back 
to No. 5, having recorded each one clearly in my note-book. 
One of the most important things, I repeat, in such expe- 
ditions is to do every thing very slowly, and to keep every 
idea clear and separate. 

Much sooner than in the outward voyage I reached the 
river again. An Arab fowler was there, wistfully gazing 
at a large bird which was out of his reach. I shot it, and 
the bird flew towards him wounded. He put a bullet- 
through its head as it lay on the rushes with dishevelled 
outstretched wings, and then he brought it to me, but of 
course I gave it to him, which made us great friends. The 
bird had a beak like the " great bittern's," and a large crest 
on its head. 

The men at our camp were rejoiced to hear my hail again, 
" Eob Koy !" long before they saw the canoe. Orientals 
speedily identify themselves with their master's cause, 
and these fellows had believed all the nonsense told them 
about this lake. Besides, their promised Christmas feast 
depended a good deal on my being among them. For this 
I bade them collect materials to make a huge bonfire, and 
these were piled up high. Hany brought in a splendid 
stuffed roast turkey for me, and then a capital plum-pud- 
ding swimming in the flames of brandy. Fancy such an 
orthodox dinner in the desert of Ateibeh ! 

The moon shone clear, and our fire had become embers 
when the Howaja joined the party round it and asked silence 
for his address. He told them that we had now reached 



CHRISTMAS ON THE ABANA. 



157 



the farthest point of our journey. After this we were go- 
ing south, and west, and homeward. Then he turned to 
the journey of Hfe, and the home for us pilgrims — then to 
the Christmas Day just finished as a great mark in time's 
road to eternity — and then he gave them a condensed his- 
tory of the world from the creation — the law — the proph- 
ets, and the Saviour— the apostles — the martyrs and our- 
selves. 




CHRISTMAS NIGHT ON A MOUTH OF TUE ABAKA. 



Hany interpreted each sentence, and every sentence was 
heard with intense interest. It was indeed an open-air 
sermon, and what with the time, the place, the audience, 
and the occasion, we might well feel solemnly the heavy 
responsibility we incur in speaking to others who will list- 
en on subjects like these. Long after the hour for sleep 
these men were talking of it all. Perhaps no one of them 
had ever heard so much truth before, or will ever hear it 
again. 



158 



THOUGHTS. 



Those who are not convinced of the truth of the Gospel 
must at any rate admit that Christianity exists. How it 
came here, how it thrives, and how it works more than all 
other energies, are questions that no man has solved with- 
out assuming far more unlikely things than the existence 
of a Christ such as the Scriptures describe. 

The phenomenon appeared, they must allow, some eight- 
een centuries ago, and among a few fishermen upon Beth- 
saida beach. These simple folk carved out the only God- 
like image ever seen. These crafty conspirators arrayed 
it with a glory that eclipsed first of all themselves hopeless- 
ly and forever. They devised the most novel and success- 
ful scheme of moral conduct, and kept on preaching doc- 
trines that convicted every day their own falsehood and 
deception. They invented the very best plan for benefit- 
ing other people, but they utterly failed to get any thing 
out of it for themselves except weeping and loss. These 
simpletons, that could not see through the flimsy veil of 
fable, saw deeper into human hearts than any other men, 
and gave voice to yearnings that were felt everywhere, 
but were never understood before. These dupes exposed 
all other deceptions that had deceived the wisest of philos- 
ophers. These dullards conceived a system that outreach- 
ed the loftiest fancies of the cleverest thinkers. 

We who are of course so much wiser, and cooler, and 
better altogether — we are the only fair and shrewd judges 
to try this case. A whirlwind of clashing thoughts is 
sweeping in thunder through the darkness above us, and 
an earthquake rends the rocks, but we are placid, and can 
sit unmoved, while we rake among the chaos and sift out 
grains of truth. We have not taken sides — we are only 
standing aloof from every thing. It does not tell upon 
our verdict at all that, if these prisoners at the bar are in 
the right, then we are utterly in the wrong, and must lay 
our mouths in the dust and confess that we are miserable 
sinners, and give up our dearest idol — self, and change our 
whole course of life, and labor and suffer and die for the 
truths we are now judging. 



NORTHERN LAKE. 



159 



'Tis true that we have ourselves no rival system that 
will bear five minutes' comparison with theirs — that our 
advance towards any better truth from the beginning of 
mankind, say fifty thousand years ago, is rather minute ; 
but the day after to-morrow we shall have explained all mys- 
teries by our sunlike inner light, without that dim candle 
of revelation — our existence in flesh and spirit, right and 
wrong, happy and wretched, poverty, sickness, death, and 
the illimitable past and future of it all. Oh, it is a delight- 
ful thing to live in an age so modest, impartial, and serene, 
and to trace back my pedigree with honest pride to the an- 
cestral oyster in a metamorphic rock, to feel a patronizing 
regret that no light from heaven could ever penetrate his 
thick shell, but that all truth is revealed to my soul by 
me, and that my law of life is what I think right, and (for I 
am charitable as well as infallible) your law of life is what 
you think right, and that nobody can say any body is more 
right than any body else, and yet we are all right together 
— and that's the way to make things pleasant all round. 

Next day I rode to the village of Ateibeh to examine 
the northern lake. Pools of water made this town nearly 
an island, but its five hundred inhabitants seemed healthy 
and comfortable, and the sheikh w^as most hospitable in his 
palace of clay, with pictures on its outer walls, which 
sloped like those in Egypt. 

A dense white fog shaded the morning sun, and bedew- 
ed the grove of trees. Through this we galloped over a 
fine plain to the mouth of the Abana's northern stream, 
which ran into the lake, only five feet wide in one part, 
and five feet deep, with a current of a mile an hour, until 
it suddenly branched into five, exactly like the palm of a 
hand, and so oozed forth into deep water, closed not far off 
by tall dense canes — a scene quite different from that in 
the southern lake we had left. 

This was the place where the three men had perished in 
the only boat known to have traversed these lakes before. 
I waited till the fog cleared away, in order to get compass- 
bearings, and then commenced a long, tedious, and danger- 



160 



MOUTHS OF THE ABANA. 



ons search for the course of this northerly branch of the 
Abana. 

The route-line on Map IL, at p. 142, indicates the gen- 
eral direction, which was sometimes over low mud-plains 
and hollows, at others across numerous canals and stream- 
lets, or deep, treacherous morass, or golden-colored herb- 
age. 

The general conclusions arrived at during this ride were 
as follows : — Above El Keisa the Abana had separated 
into three streams. The most southerly (marked C onMap 
II., and seemingly rather modern and artificial) is spent in 
irrigation, but in floods it may run by Harran. The mid- 
dle one (marked B) we had followed in the Eob Eoy, and, 
soon after the place where we left it, the stream is lost in 
an upland marsh, until about a quarter of a mile from its 
mouth. There the water appears again as a river, and, 
passing near the hamlet of Haush Hamar, runs into the 
lake through the mouth we had camped by for Christmas 
Day. The northern branch (marked A) also merges into 
an intricate spongy bog, until the waters unite in the stream 
which enters the northern lake. Between these last two 
branches is the land separating the two lakes. Porter 
states that this neck of land, about a mile in breadth, di- 
vides them permanently, except where the deep channel 
through it allows the water to run. Yandevelde marks 
the land here only as a peninsula, and he indicates the 
channel called El Hawar through this narrow tongue. 
Porter says that the water flows from south to north, 
through this, but the sheikh at Hijaneh stated that the wa- 
ter runs either way. All the people at Ateibeh assured me 
that Tell el Khanzir"^ is not at the place so named in Yan- 
develde and in Petermann (and which is called Tell Namy), 
but is north and west of Ateibeh. Porter (who visited the 
actual spot) places Tell Maktil Musa near the channel 
above mentioned, while Yandevelde calls another tell by 
that name. The misty cloud which hung about us for 

* Wilson, however, mentions the tell by this name as being near the 
canal, though he did not reach it, owing to a robbeiy at his camp. 



TELL DEKWEH. 



161 



several hours prevented me from taking reliable bearings 
of the villages in this district, but, on the whole, they 
corresponded with the position marked in Yandevelde. 

According to Porter, the northern lake is about eight 
miles long, by four and a half wide, and receives part of 
the Yezid water, and in winter a stream called the Mah- 
rabrit at the north. It also receives water from some 
springs. The most copious of these, Ain Halush, waters 
five villages. The southern morass is about six miles long, 
and four broad. The plants I saw upon it were seldom 
higher than five feet. 

On the east of these lakes, and, according to my com- 
pass-bearing, about sixteen miles from Ateibeh, and eight- 
een from Hijaneh, is a high mound, call Tell Dekweh, one 
of a line of tells close together for fifteen miles. These 
form the most remarkable, and, indeed, singular feature in 
the eastern horizon. The land between them and the lakes 
must be high. Porter says thirty feet, and the outline sketch 
of them given on Map XL, which was taken from my post 
P in the marsh, shows that they are nearly hidden by the 
shore when looked at from the water. 

Three strange ruined buildings lie between these hills 
and the lake, but no man lives in that solitude, and all 
around and beyond is a desert of silence. 

It was difficult to resist the powerful attraction of a visit 
to such places on the eastern shore, but the Kob Eoy had 
no business there, and plenty of work was awaiting her 
which could only be done in a canoe. So she was mount- 
ed again on her pony, and we filed along the edge of the 
morass by Kefrein (" two villages ") and Jedideh, easily 
finding a far better route than our herdsman guide had led 
before ; for there are very few places where a traveller is 
not his own best guide when journeying in a mode un- 
known to the natives."^ 

* The plain of the Abana is considerably lower than that of the Pharpar, 
and Wilson describes a canal leading from the Pharpar to the Damascus 
plain. In one place it is crossed by a Roman bridge, so it must have existed 
in Roman times. This may be the canal alluded to before, p. 127. 

L 



162 



TELL HIJANEH. 



In the lovely evening our tents were pitched at the foot 
of the large and very remarkable mound of Hijaneh, 
which, looming out from the horizon, deep blue-black and 
vivid, against the evening sky, had long been our land- 
mark from afar.* To run up this for a new view of old 
things, and a sight of what was hidden behind, was of 
course one's immediate delight. Such pleasures never 
pall on the voyager. 

This huge tell is about one hundred feet high, and one 
thousand yards long, by four hundred in breadtia. It seems 




HIJANEH LAKE FROM THE TOP OF THE TELL. 

R, The first river. r, Second river. p, Pools in Bashan. B, Butreya ruins. 
C, Cairn. S, Summit of Faslial. I, Position of the island. 
P, South limb of the Pharpar. The dotted part in the lake is densely- 
covered by canes. 



unlikely that it can be wholly natural, yet it is far too 
large to be formed by man^ On one end is a fort. Euins 
are in the middle, and enormous stones are piled in circles 
all about, while a small modern cairn crowns the southern 
end, as a look-out for the soldiers here to spy the robber 
Arabs. 

Towards the north I could not see a speck of clear water 
in Ateibeh marsh, but to the south-east there stretched the 

* It is strange that this veiy striking object is not noticed in Murray's 
Guidebook. It is marked on Map IV. 



HIJANEH LAKE. 



168 



new lake of Hijaneh, its ample basin full, and ready for to- 
morrow in the canoe, where myriads of water-fowl were 
darkening the air, or busily crowding amongst the tall yel- 
low canes. 

Here was our first view also of the river Pharpar, which 
divides into two as it nears the lake,^ and from this point 
the accompanying sketch was made, looking south-east to- 
wards the giant cities of Bashan. 

This was one of those many charming spots to camp in 
which make the traveller revel in joy. The air balmy and 
serene, the prospect grand, the floor of one's little mansion 
dry and salubrious, the village not too close to mar by its 
odors and noises, the sky melting from the azure of day 
into the dark repose of night, where only the stars seemed 
alive, until the last plaintive wail of the last jackal for the 
night was blended in the first bark of the most wakeful 
dog next day. What must it be for a sentimental man to 
live in scenes like this ? 

Goats in a flock wending to the river showed us the ford 
where bushes and wattles laid on the water formed a rude 
bridge. Then we mounted the little hill, and next Tell 
Kasrein, to reconnoitre the lake. On both of these are 
ruins of black basalt, squared as in the giant cities of Ba- 
shan. At the eastern top of Kasrein there is one enormous 
stone, twelve feet wide, and a yard in thickness, covering 
a subterraneous store or chamber. This stone. I observed 
had been blasted by gunpowder, and, descending below it, 
I came upon the skeleton of a man, from which. I brought 
back a tooth, to remind me to ask about it. Then they 
told us that, many years ago, some " Frangi " (that is, some- 
body not dressed or speaking like Turks) had excavated 
here for " treasure," but that they suddenly left the spot 
when an " accident " had occurred ; and, doubtless, the 
skeleton was that of the one who was killed. 

Next day the Eob Koy dashed into the reeds of Hijaneh. 

* Inspection of these confirmed the evidence of the natives that the branch 
running south of Tell Kasrein is the larger of the two. Vandevelde marks 
only one, and that on the wrong side of the tell. 



164: 



PADDLING TO BASHAN. 



These were from ten to fifteen feet high, counting the root. 
The longest I obtained was twenty feet, allowing for five 
feet of immersion, as the water was usually of that depth. 
These canes were a barrier not easily forced. However, it 
was quite a different matter here from the slow dull " punt- 
ing " across a shallow marsh in Ateibeh. My pole easily 
caught the long stiff reeds, as a purchase to act upon, and, 
by standing up in the canoe with a compass to direct, and 
the clumps of canes to haul upon with my hands, I soon 
crossed right through them, and came into open water, and 
so landed at the foot of the long hill of the Fashal, which 
bounds the lake on the south ; and thus in the Eob Eoy I 
entered the land of Bashan. Here I left the canoe and ran 
up the mountain to a cairn near the end, whence a new and 
splendid prospect opened out grandly from a point not 
visited before by any traveller, so far as can be found. 
Our mode of progress was at any rate unique, thus landing 
on the Hauran'^ in a canoe, and entering alone upon a dis- 
trict where a guard is always required for protection. My 
first care was to see that no lurking Arab should intercept 
my return to the water. For miles around the place was 
utterly desolate. In case of an armed party appearing, I 
must be ready to retreat to my boat, and, by gaining the 
reeds, be out of reach of their guns. Meantime, with cock- 
ed pistol in one hand, and a stout staff in the other, I was 
fully prepared for any single Arab, or even for a couple of 
them, who might try to make a capture in hopes of the 
usual ransom. Euins with huge black basalt rocks crown- 
ed the hill-crest, to which I had run up rather than climb- 
ed, and the sight all around me was magnificent. The day 
was bright, the air was clear, no sound whatever came to 
the listening ear, however still, no moving thing could be 
seen on that dread wilderness. In the far-off picture, which 
was all black basalt, I could see the mounds and ruins of 
at least ten towns, apparently tenantless of man, desolate 
for ages, but sternly defying time and weather still, and 

* Hauran, from the Hebrew word meaning a hole. The people there lived 
in eaves, the "Troglodytes." 



NIMRIM. 



165 



telling loudly to the world in their very silence the truth 
of prophecy, and the sureness of the curse of God. To the 
north was the wide marsh of Ateibeh, and the unmeasured 
plain beyond. The Jebel Tinyeh chain stood out from the 
plain of Damascus, and a long line of snow-peaks gleamed 
in the blue sky. Hermon, that ever-present mountain, 
here again asserted his majesty, and pierced the only cloud. 
From below this, like a long winding thread of silver, the 
Pharpar flowed, and, sweeping to the south, just under the 
sun, were the rugged hills where Og had ruled and revelled 
ages ago. In the middle of this ancient panorama was my 
pretty little floating home resting by the water-side. All 
the Bedouins of the desert could not catch us when afloat, 
nor could they reach me with their rifles, for, in two min- 
utes, I should be hidden by the reeds. At such a moment 
the Rob Roy seemed more than ever dear to me, if such an 
expression is ever permissible respecting an inanimate ob- 
ject, and as I wended my way down the hill again- through 
huge ruins and rank vegetation, there was a feeling of ex- 
haustion and repletion of excitement, and the conviction in 
the mind, " I have had strange thoughts here." A chain 
of far distant pools shone with light to the south. Among 
those nearer was Bala Lake, but, unfortunately, I did not 
sketch it. In the fac-simile sketch at p. 162, the farthest 
water must be Bala, and the long streams of ISTimrim,* 

* '"ITie waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate" (Jeremiah xlviii. 34). 
The name occm-s again in a passage of such exquisite beauty, and with 
other names so liquid and gi-and, that it is inserted here. This is in Isaiah 
XV. 2-7. 

" He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep : Moab 
shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba : on all their heads shall be baldness, 
and eveiy beard cut off. 

"In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth : on the tops of 
their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. 

"And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh ; their voice shall be heard even 
unto Jahaz : therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall ciy out ; his life 
shall be grievous unto him. 

' ' My heart shall cry out for Moab ; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, a 
heifer of three years old : for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping 
shall they go it up ; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of 
destruction. 



166 



THE ISLAND. 



while the oak-forests darkened the way to the ancient 
Bozrah. 

In all this panorama of sable rock and hills one man 
only could be seen, and he was miles away, though he 
seemed near enough to hail as he marshalled his little 
flock of desert sheep and a camel, all unconscious that a 
G-iaour was staring at him from the hot sharp peaks of the 
mountain. 

A hasty examination of the ruins marked Betraya in 
Yandevelde's map found nothing of interest there. But I 
noticed at once with great delight that there was, indeed, 
an island on the lake, and buildings upon it. This can be 
only just discerned from one part of Hijaneh fort, for it is 
otherwise hid by Kasrein, and I can not explain why I did 
not remark it from the top of Kasrein Tell. Carefully 
taking its bearings, I descended from my eyrie, and the 
Eob Roy was soon again in the thick of the reeds. 

By careful steering I reached the spot desired, and was 
soon made aware of my nearness to it b}' the tracks of wild 
boars cut throuo-h the reeds as the water shoaled to less 

o 

than two feet. With necessary caution I went all round 
the island first, ever ready in an instant to dart out into 
deeper water, if by misfortune I should come on some 
sleepy "tusker" who might charge the Rob Roy, smash 
her to pieces, and leave me helpless on the concealed 
island. The ground was a few acres in extent, and torn to 
pieces with innumerable boar-ruts, while for two hundred 
yards the massive walls of four strong buildings rose to the 
height of three or four courses of masonry. I determined 
not to land in so dangerous a place, but with the full con- 
viction all the time that I must land nevertheless. Yery 
quietly then I punted in along a boar track and stepped 
ashore, and with pistol and club stole noiselessly into the 
silent inclosure. I was the only animal then on the isl- 

"For the waters of Nimrim shall he desolate: for the hay is "ndthered 
away, the gi-ass faileth, there is no gi-een thing. 

"Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have 
laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows." 



IN A BOAR-TRACK. 



167 



and, or the others were very well hid. Indeed I have seen 
only two wild boars at all in the East, and these certain- 
ly were not pleasant-looking, with their enormous heads, 
yellow tusks, and stiff red bristles erect on their back, fully 
three inches long. I entered chamber after chamber, always 
pistol in hand, but all was silent. My boat was so buried 
in the reeds where I had left her that I could not find 
her again, and for a little time there was a qualm in her 




BY A BOAK-TRAOK ON LAKK II IJ AM EH. 



captain's bosom, but soon we were afloat again. From ob- 
servations here and in hunting the wild boar in Egypt 
years ago, I came to the conclusion that in two feet of water 
the boar is compelled to swim, and he is then more con- 
cerned to retreat than to attack. As I slowly paddled 
round the shores of this lonely isle, I saw deep at the bot- 
tom many huge stones and ruined walls and piers as of a 
bridge, squared and cut for unknown purposes by un- 
known men at a time unknown. At the north angle of it 



168 



CHANNEL. 



there is a channel of open water straight to the shore, in a 
direction north-west; this is two hundred yards long, 
twenty yards wide, and with water seven feet deep, so that 
it was evidently a fortress in old times cleverly placed, 
though one may well pity the garrison of such a keep. 
The channel led to a little tell, no doubt an outwork once, 
and busy with life of a people long since passed into an- 
other world. 

I know not whether this place had been visited before, 
but it would be quite easy to reach the island by the 
merest raft. As for getting through the reeds, that could 
only be done by a canoe. A row-boat needs room on each 
side for her oars, and it would be next to impossible to 
wade, with mud below and four feet of water above, and 
the reeds between. I brought away one of the twenty- 
foot reeds trodden down by the wild boars in this island as 
a trophy for my traveller's museum in the Temple, but to 
my great regret it was afterwards thrown aside b}^ a mule- 
teer heedlessly. There was great rejoicing in the village at 
the return of the shaktoor (boat), and until a late hour at 
night the people haunted my tents, and the sheikh, a fine 
handsome fellow, had coffee with me to learn the news, 
which afterwards and for many a day he would retail to his 
subjects with all the additions which a romantic Arab can 
so pleasantly hang upon a simple tale. 



HIJANEH LAKE. 



169 



CHAPTER XL 

Hijaneh Lake. — Jungle.— Plain of Pharpar. — Maps. — Bearings. — Off to 
Bashan. — Brak. — Stone every thing. — Cut-throat. — Stone Gate and 
Shutter, — Mr. Bright. — King Og. — Paddle on the Pharpar. — Sources. — 
Adalyeh. — The winding Pharpar. — Damascus. — Spur of Hermon. — Ice. 

OuE next day's start in the Rob Roy was made farther 
north to survey the rest of the lake, and to determine its 
nature, depth, and size. Open spaces were frequent, and 
the countless wild-fowl made the scene lively and exciting. 
When undisturbed, the noise of these birds feeding all un- 
seen was extraordinary. It sounded like a strong river 
gushing, and yet it was only the chittering of their bills. 
The dotted route-line on the map shows the course of the 
canoe, with arrow-points to indicate its direction. At the 
round promontory on the north-east I noticed a wolf 
stealthily drinking, and I landed for battle, creeping low 
with my pistol and bludgeon, but he decamped with a 
snarl of defiance. Next the canoe entered a canal, to 
which a deep channel conducts through the bay. The 
water was fifteen feet wide and four feet deep, and the cur- 
rent about a mile an hour, between banks gradually higher 
as we floated along, merrily singing, in the bright sunny 
day. But after a mile or so of this, as the current increased 
rapidly, we had to think of the journey against it for re- 
turn, and so I landed in the wilderness to rest and take 
bearings. 

The next promontory was low, and led out to an insular 
track of shallow in the lake ; so I hauled the canoe over 
this and entered a second canal. This seemed to be much 
older than the other, and it had no current, but ended in a 
deep dry brake with banks nearly twenty feet high. We 
were told that these two canals were made to drain off the 
surplus of Hijaneh Lake, that it might not flood the arable 
land. 



170 



JUNGLE. 



The canal first entered was made about tliirtj years ago, 
and it leads by tlie Asyah Hasweli to the pool called Bala 
in Yandevelde's map. When the canoe could go no farther 
in the second channel, I left her for a walk. 

The jungle became rapidly thicker, and exactly the sort 
of place where wild beasts lie at noon. Numerous marks 
of their feet were there, and the turf was torn up freshly 
by the tusks of boars. Having thus gone as far as pru- 
dent towards the "Koad of Eobbers," I sat down on the 
level plain to rest and enjoy myself and to take compass- 
bearings. Some at least of these angles were less accurate- 
ly observed than they ought to be, especially when the 
fear of robbers and beasts hurried the work of the survey- 
or, who, besides observing the compass, had to look on each 
side of him for danger, just as a monkey does when every 
thing about him is suspected. Perhaps at first sight it may 
be considered of little consequence to ascertain the nature 
and shapes of these places, but a different estimate of their 
interest and importance is formed when we consider their 
relation to the ancient city of Damascus, the evidence 
around them of nations once existing, but now extinct, to 
whom Hijaneh must have been a well-known feature, and be- 
sides all this, the halo of undying celebrity attached to the 
Abana and Pharpar by Naaman's comparison of them with 
that other more blessed stream we are soon to sail upon. 

Let us rest a bit in our tent this fine evening to collect 
our memoranda from the note-book hurriedly pencilled. 
Yet it is not easy to withdraw the eye from the beautiful 
picture before us, framed by the curtains of our canvas 
boudoir. 

Hermon insists on being sovereign of the scene, and 
there you see him high over all in the sketch opposite. The 
plain, long-stretching from the carpet at our feet, is that 
which is watered by the Pharpar, and to the left is the 
root of the Fashal Tell, while the mound of Abu Zid and 
other less prominent hills are grouped in front at the foot 
of imperial Hermon. The villagers have come to gossip 
and drink our coffee, so the short reverie is closed. 




HARPER i BROTHER?, NEW YORK 



MAPS. 



171 



After examining all the best maps Mtlierto drawn of 
this lake of Hijaneh, it is evident enough that none of them 
have been made by personal survey from each side * Por- 




HEKMON AND PLAIN OF THE PIIARPAR. 



ter declines to imagine where he has not inspected, and 
rightly merges the lake in the desert without any southern 
outline, though Hijaneh has a very distinct shore-line all 

* Unless the contour varies much in different seasons. But this is not 
likely here. 



172 



BEARINGS. 



round it. Yandevelde's map is distinct, but rather inaccu- 
rate. Petermann's is worse, for the whole is imagined, and 
not even imagined well, though distinctly. Eitter's, how- 
ever, is the worst of all, for it "lumps" the three lakes in 
one, and marks all sorts of bays and capes as if they had 
been accurately surveyed. This pretentious accuracy is 
equally fallacious in his delineation of the Abana and 
Pharpar, the Jordan, the Lake of Hooleh, and the Sea of 
Galilee. 

Keeping to facts ascertained by those who have actually 
seen the places, we may consider it to be proved that there 
are four lakes; that a channel unites the two northern 
ones ; that the margins of these are vague, and that the 
Abana runs into them without ever escaping again except 
in vapor. Also that the two southern lakes, Hijaneh and 
Bala, are united by a channel, and that the Pharpar falls 
into Hijaneh onlj^ to be evaporated again like the Abana. 
Lastly, the water in the two sets of lakes does not increase 
and diminish together, but one may be dry while the other 
is deep, and vice versa. Probably the Abana and Pharpar, 
therefore, do not flood or dry up together. One may be 
more influenced by the melting snow, and the other by 
rain. The investigation of this interesting point is still 
open to some careful observer. 

The principal bearings obtained by our little compass 
may now be given from the Eob Eoy's log. From these 
were constructed the maps of the lakes. A few of the 
bearings are evident mistakes, or at least can not be dove- 
tailed with the rest, but it is better to record them all, with 
the excuse for a little confusion which any one who fol- 
lows the Eob Eoy will need for himself w^hen he uses to- 
gether both a canoe and a compass."^ 

* Those Avho are interested sufficiently to investigate these bearings in 
detail, will remark that the maps of the two lakes are connected in position 
only by one observation from Hijaneh Fort, and in distance by the interval 
between Jedideh and Hijaneh taken as a base. The length of this base I 
could not measure, but estimating it from the time taken to ride over it, 
Vandevclde's map, and Murray's account, I reckon the distance as nearly 
two miles and a half. The time occupied in riding from Haush Hamar 



BEARINGS. 



173 



COMPASS-BEARINGS NEAR ATEIBEH MARSH. 



From 

Harran Mosque 

Haush Hamar Mouth . . 
North Mouth of Abana 



.TeU Dekweh, E. by S. 
.Harran Pillars, S.W. 
.Tell elNamy, E.S.E ^ E. 
Ateibeh, S. ^ W. 
(?) Tell el Khanzir. N.* 



LOG OF THE COURSE IN ATEIBEH MORASS. 



Time. Stations 



Bearings of Last. 



No. 

Started 8 38 

At 9 36 1 '.N.KW. 

2 N.N.W. (tent-flag midway between 1 and 2). 

10 30 3 N.N.W. Pillars at Harran, W.S.W. 

4 N.W. by N. (turn to left). 

12 10 5 N.W. ^ N. 

1 05 6 Bearings from this: 



Harran Pillars, W.S.W. ^ W. 
Hijaneh Tell, S.S.W. 
Tent-flag, N.W. by N. 
Ateibeh, N.N.E. 
Dekweh Mount, E. by S. 
Tell Maktil Musa, S.E. ^ E. 
Tell el Namy, N.N.E. 



The position of Station 6 is marked P in Map II. 



COMPASS-BEARINGS IN AND NEAR THE LAKE OF HIJANEH. 

From 

Hijaneh (N.E. corner of the fort) ....Jedideh, N. 



mouth to Hijaneh was four hours and a half, but the ground being very 
heavy at first, and our horses tired by a long morning's work, our pace was 
not more than two miles an hour, which would agree very well with the dis- 
tance given by compass-bearings, 8^ miles. These maps had been printed 
before it was thought desirable to allow for variation of the compass, which 
in the other maps is 5° west. 

* This was pointed to by the native guide, but it was not seen in the fog. 

t This seems too far N. to be correct. 



Kefrein, N. i E. 
Harran, N. f E. 
Ateibeh, N.N.E. i E. 




Hijaneh (south caira) 



.Pharpar Ford, S.S.W. 

End of fort, N. W. ^ N. 

End of reeds, E.S.E. ^ E. 

End of next promontory, S.E. ^ S. 

Small tell near Kasrein, S. ^ W. 



174 



BEARINGS. 



COMPASS-BEARINGS IN AND NEAR THE LAKE OF HIJANEH. 

From 

Entrance of first canal (first river 

in plan at p. 162 Hijaneh, east end, W.N.W. ^ W. 

Kasrein Tell, W.S.W. 
Bataryeh (?) ruins, S.W. 
End tell on Fashal, S. 
Tell Abu Zid, W. ^ N. 
Jedideh, N.W. t N. 

Entrance of second canal (second 

river, p. 162) Euins, W.S.W. 

Kasrein, N.W. by W. 

Fashal Cairn, S.W. by S. 

Tell Dekweh, E. by N. i N. 

Hijaneh, N.N.W. ^ W. 
Post B, on south bend of dry canal . . . .Hijaneh, N.W. by N. 

Fashal, S.W. 

Second start-point on Lake Hi- 
janeh Euins, S.W. by S. 

Fashal point, S.* 
Hijaneh fort, N. by W. 

N.E. comer of the island in Hi- 
janeh West comer of Hijaneh fort, N. 

Kasrein to E. covers the rest. 
Direction of the channel to shore, N. W. 



I thirsted to see near what I wistfallj gazed at in the 
Hauran from afar, the " Giant Cities " so graphically de- 
scribed by Porter, and I determined to visit at least one of 
these. For this we went up the Pharpar to Nejha, a little vil- 
lage fall of Arab tents, but built itself on so steep a rock that 
we could scarcely find room for our camp alongside. Next 
day, leaving our tents, and all our valuables, and with only 
a mule for light luggage, and with the village sheikh as 
guide, and one of our soldiers as guard, we rode into the 
"Land of Argob," as the Bible calls it, the "stone coun- 
try." Here are the Druses in force, and the Turks have 
the mere name of possession without rule over the Arab 
hordes, but an Englishman is safer here than other travel- 
lers. They like us, they welcome us, and now and then 
they plunder us. 

This part of our journey need not be minutely de- 

* This seems too far W. to be correct, or the point was not that at the end. 



BRAK. 



175 



scribed, for it has been done well by other travellers. The 
village sheikh who came with us was mounted on a very 
small saddle made of bones. His wife was weaving cane 
mats with black strings, each of them tied to a stone. 
Bleak was the way amid wave-like hills of unnumbered 
stones. Camels fed in them nevertheless, and long-haired 
goats, and the black Arab tents were in many valleys, with 
the blue smoke listlessly curling towards the sky, but not 
very particular as to its direction here or there. Elvers 
marked in the map we found utterly dry. Yet we went 
down for miles until a blacker black in the distance showed 
we had come to the nearest "giant city." 

This Bashan town of Brak looked like a mass of crags 
without order until we came close. It was far more curi- 
ous to behold than I had even anticipated. You come 
upon a mile of rock and stone in piles, the ruins of the com- 
moner houses along a ridge, and at one end of this you 
perceive with amazement that fifty or sixty of the ancient 
houses are still standing almost uninjured. They are 
built of massive basalt blocks, a stone which resists time 
and weather, and 3^et is so rough that it will scarcely 
slip to tumble down even when ruin has begun. No one 
can tell when these cities were built.'^ Porter says it may 
have been in the days of Ham. We lunch meantime on 
the roof of one, and then for four hours wander over and 
under and through the others, at every step more puzzled 
about them and more pleased. 

Stone is every thing here. The town has some hundred 
stone cisterns, but no well, and the rain-water is stored in 
these; hence its name Brak (cistern). The walls of the 
houses are four or five feet thick, sometimes six feet, of 
roughly hewn basalt. Several houses have the stone well 
cut, almost polished. Many are of two stories high, and a 
few three stories. The joists and rafters of the great rooms 

* Mr. Freshfield, who recently visited the Hauran, thinks that the build- 
ings are modern. They seem to be of two kinds, where very ancient remains 
are interspersed with structures of Roman character and of a different form, 
and certainly not " giant" in the height of their gates, or roofs, or ceilings. 



176 



STONE EVERY THING. 



are all of stone. Some of these are twelve or fourteen feet 
long. The doors are large slabs of stone, the stables have 
stone mangers, and the spouts on the roofs are stone. I 
could not find any chimneys except holes in the roof, but 
there were stone cooking-places, and stone troughs in the 
kitchens. There is no wood here at all, and every single 
thing is stone. In several houses fine semicircular arches 
support the roofs of large halls, and until quite lately all 
these buildings were entirely untenanted. The Arabs like 
their tents better than any houses, and they even live in 
tents pitched in the court-yards of the empty streets, and 
they would not let other people take lodgings here. The 
sight of this town is a new sensation, a bewilderment; and 
upon looking at house upon house, built, finished, lived in, 
deserted, and yet unsought by any of the homeless, house- 
less folks of this world, there is an inward protest against 
the conclusion, mingled with a romantic interest in the 
whole affair. Yet, I regret to say, much of this will be lost 
to future travellers. They will see the houses indeed, but 
not so silent and tenantless. People are beginning to in- 
habit them again. Within the last three years a hundred 
persons have taken up their abode in this one town of 
Brak, which Porter speaks of as without an inhabitant at 
the time he wrote. A man came here from Aleppo to 
avoid the cruel conscription for military service, which is 
one of the self-inflicted wrongs of the miserable Turk. He 
collected others round him who liked this convenient " ten- 
ant right," with no landlord to give notice, and no rates to 
pay. So these people settled in Brak, and now the chief 
defies the Government to wrest from him his freehold ! 
" By all means," I said, " let us call on him." He was not 
at home, but his son, a fine youth of twenty, received me 
well, and I invited myself as a lodger for the night. 

Turning to the Turkish soldier who was with me, he 
said with most courteous ferocity, " I should like to cut 
your throat, sir ;" we told him not to joke with the milita- 
ry, but he said it again, said it to his face, and was in ear- 
nest too. However, because of the " Howaja Ingleez," he 



STONE DOOR. 177 

would let the poor Turk alone. I had a bedroom given to 
me in this ancient house, the largest and best in the town. 
Perhaps Og, the king of Bashan, may have slept in the 
same room ; and let me now describe it, after we have 
swept out all the grain which fills the floor in a heap. 

We have entered the yard of the dwelling through a 
gateway where two massive stone doors still turn on their 
oivots, and folding together are fastened by a rope through 




BTONE DOOR OF A HOUSE IN BASHAN. 



holes in their inner edges. These slabs are about seven feet 
in height and six inches thick, and the pivots about four 
inches long and three in diameter. I can close them with 
one finger. A stone door of this kind has been sent to the 
British Museum. Inside the court we find a stable with 
compartments, all of stone, and up stairs my room is now 
ready, the steps to it being in the wall outside. The floor 
is perfectly smooth ; the walls, of cut stone, well joined. 
The window, on a level with the floor, and opposite to the 

M 



178 



STONE GATE AND SHUTTER. 




STONE SHUTTEE OF MY BEDKOOM. 



door, is actually furnislied with a stone window-shutter^ four 
feet by three in width. Somebody may have looked 
through this window when England was a desert, and long 
before the Britons were painted blue and hunted the elk 
in Wessex. A Greek inscription is on a wall of the court- 
yard relating to some monument, and dated five centuries 
before Christ. At night I took my candle and went up 
stairs to bed (holes in some stairs for banisters are noticed), 
and then read the " Times," telling that the new Ministry 
had been formed with the Eight Honorable John Bright 
in the Cabinet. My bedroom window stone shutter opened 
outward. The stone doors opened inward, and when 
there are two leaves, they overlap. In several of the 
houses there were small stone rollers to smooth the clay on 
the roof outside exactly like those now seen elsewhere and 
described before. One of these rollers was in use at this 
sheikh's house, and he assured me that he had found it 
there. Our bedroom is fourteen feet long, and nine feet 
wide, and eleven feet high. Stone slabs neatly jointed 
] project inward from the end walls, and on them are laid 
six stone rafters, each ten feet long, and about fifteen inch- 



KING OG. 



179 



es wide. The stones to support the joists were sometimes 
let into the wall at a slope, and in other cases with a flat 
part let in and an angle turned up. Rough stones are laid 
across these above, and then rubble and earth to form the 
roof. One side wall has three recesses, about three feet 
from the floor, each of them about a yard deep and high 
and wide, l^hese form cupboards, and in most houses in 
Syria, whether of stone or mud, the very same plan is 
adopted at the present day. In the stable below the man- 
gers are recesses of this kind, and the oxen eat their fod- 
der from this sort , of recessed shelf, the lower ones being- 
open to allow the sheep and goats to pass. It occurred to 
my mind at once that, as Bethlehem has many houses built 
ao^ainst rocks, the mano-er of the room in which our Lord 
was laid may have been precisely of this kind, and if so, it 
would be the very safest and most convenient place in the 
apartment for the infant Saviour to be placed. At one of 
the watering-places in the ruins there was assembled a pic- 
turesque group of men and women, cattle, sheep, and goats, 
camels, horses, and asses, all awaiting their turn as a man 
let down a bucket by a rope thirty feet long, and then 
poured the water into pots and pans and troughs for the 
beasts, just as it was done, no doubt, in the days of Og, 
that lofty warrior-king. 

Wild beasts infest these ruins, and they ran about all 
night wailing with greedy hunger as they scented the 
bleating kids. The dogs of the house were equally active, 
and rushed through my room and clambered on the roof, 
baying at the moon and barking furiously as the wilder 
quadrupeds shrieked again for prey. The sheikh, a man 
with long red hair, was most complacent in the morning. 
He reviled and defied the Turks and their government, 
and then extolled the English and our gracious Queen. 
He said the river Khuneifis never ran water, except in 
heavy rain-storms. This stream is marked in the maps as 
if it were a regular river. I passed four times over its bed, 
which had not the semblance of water then, but was tilled 
and verdant with crops. The river Leiva (or Looa) must 



180 



PADDLE ON THE PHAEPAE. 



be a good deal imaginary. The ground near Brak seemed 
to be below the level of Lake Hijaneh. The Matkh Brak 
(marked as a lake in the maps) was dry and covered with 
crops. The pools I saw from the Fashal and the Bala 
Lake were not visible from the highest point at Brak, 
though I spent about six hours there in carefully inspect- 
ing all that could be dived into or clambered over. 

Returning by another route, we visited Merjany, a 
smaller town, and with houses just like the others, except 
that they were utterly vacant and still. As I came near 
them, riding a mile in advance, a wild-cat skulked in one 
of the kitchens, the only sign of life. • The pavement of the 
inclosures here was absolutely as perfect as it ever could 
have been in old times, but no flock ever bleats now in 
these ancient folds. Brak was grander than this, and, at 
first, more striking; but the mud now plastered on the 
walls of the houses fall of living men has covered up much 
of the sentiment there, and which still reigns in Merjany 
supreme and overwhelming amidst absolute silence, and 
black gaunt loneliness. 

It was a pleasant ride back from the Hauran and the 
stony land of Argob, and soon our horses' hoofs again sank 
softly in the rich loam by the Pharpar, and I chose for my 
encampment a charming bend on the river. The water 
ran smoothly round a low grassy bank, which was warmed 
by a genial sun, and dotted with early flowers. How 
peaceful it was for a moment ! But soon our long string 
of mules came near. Boxes and bundles were loosed from 
their backs, and quickly sprinkled the sward. Men shout- 
ed, and horses neighed. As if by magic, two snowy homes 
fluttered into being, and the wild plain resounded with 
hammer-knocks on tent-pins. Perfect method and order 
always ruled our camp. Lax disci})line gains no respect 
from the Moslem ; so, when our red ensign was flung out 
to the breeze, I left the men to their duties and paddled up 
the river. The boys of Adalyeh were frantic with a new 
delight. The women forgot even to cover their faces. 
The men ran pell-mell to see the "shaktoor," doubtless the 



SOURCES. 



181 



very first boat tliey had ever seen in their lives, even in a 
picture. Above the village is a curious aqueduct, and be- 
yond it a sort of dam with a waterfall. Here, as we mount 
the stream, are the first trees on the Pharpar, and from 
this spot I could just discern the fort of Hijaneh, near 
which the river enters the lake. After healthy exercise 
like this — riding half the day and canoeing the rest — it is 
pleasant, indeed, to haul up the Eob Eoy on the velvet 
turf, and to enter one's canvas citadel, sure to find ever}^ 
single article, great and small, precisely in the same rela- 
tive position they occupied yesterday, and every day be- 
fore. 

The thick Turkey carpet, the tressel-bed, the wooden 
box I had got made at Damascus twenty years before, the 
portmanteau I had brought from America, the camp-stools, 
with the large tin basin on one, the cleanest af table-cloths 
spread daintily, and the brightest of plate ; all these, and 
every little knick-knack, are the same every day, and not an 
instant is wasted about the furniture of our room, but all 
attention may be riveted at once upon the splendid pros- 
pect outside, seen as we recline in peace and gaze through 
our tent-door framing this lovely picture. The Pharpar 
rises in Mount Hermon in two streams. According to 
Porter, the north and principal branch has its spring in 
fountains near Arny, and the second rises from Beit Jenin, 
at the foot of Hermon. These nnite after eight miles at 
Sasa, and form the Awaj,^ which then runs about six 
miles south-east, and then eastward to Kesweh, five miles 
more, whence it soon falls over the weir near Adalyeh, 
and meanders quietly to its noiseless end in the lake, 

Eeveries are sweetest when you are half tired ; but the 
most poetic traveller must eat, if it be only as a duty. The 
jingling of plates and glasses foretells that faithful Hany 
has elaborated his menu^ and Sleman approaches with a 
low reverence to say it is " hadir" (ready). The tinkling 

* J ebel Jar seems to form a portion of the dividing ridge, as the waters 
flow to Pharpar on one side, and to the Yarmuk on the other. It is near 
Jebba, in lat. 33° 09' 36" N., and long. 35° 52' 34" E.— Wilson. 



182 



THE PHARPAR. 



of mule-bells shows the beasts have come from their water- 
ing, the quiet outside shows that the men are at rest, the 
soothing gurgle of the nargilleh proclaims that Latoof is in 
the height of enjoyment. Our long chibouque, less vocal, 
is equally serene. Not one disturbing thought or care 
jars on the mind, not even about the waiter and the " bill." 
This is luxury, a terrible luxury too, for if not earned by 
labor and energy, it can not be enjoyed by him who counts 
the hours that fly. 

At least a hundred visitors formed a respectful circle 
round our camp, all sitting on the grass, until the sun 
sunk into Hermon's snowy lap. Then one by one they 
left, the last one being a depositary for all time to come of 
all that the rest of them had heard or imagined about the 
wonderful " Frangi " and his marvellous " shaktoor." 

Next day she was launched again, and sped down the 
river swiftly on a rapid stream. The whole course of the 
Pharpar from this to the lake is dull and monotonous to a 
degree, without any interest whatever, except as a new 
lesson in canoeing. 

The excessive winding of Pharpar can only be com- 
pletely realized by following its channel in a canoe. Of 
course, any other kind of boat would very soon be unbear- 
able in such a river as this, unless the voyager could turn 
his face permanently backward. Though the stream ran 
from four to five miles an hour, and my speed over the 
land must have nearly doubled this in actual progress, yet 
the Eob Eoy was two hours in accomplishing a distance 
between two points which the mules, at an easy walk, 
(under three miles an hour), finished in thirty minutes. 
Thus we may estimate that the channel bends so much as 
to make the river's length about seven or eight times as 
much as the real intervah measured upon a straight line. 

To exhibit this more clearly, I have given here in the 
plan a copy of my map of half a mile of the Pharpar. In 
nearly all rivers we have a bend to right and left of a 
general course. In some there is a "wind within a bend," 
but in the instance referred to on the Pharpar it will be 



EXCESSIVE WINDING. 188 

seen that in several parts there is " a turn within a wind 
within a bend."'^ 

Some of these gyrations were 'performed in so small a 




HALF A MILE OP TUB PHAKPAE. 



compass that Hany used to stand still on the bank and 
converse with me while the Eob Eoy carried its crew away 
from him, and then back again several times, but yet sel- 
dom out of sight during the excursion. 

It would have been waste of time to spend it on much 
of this work ; so at the bridge where the " Hadj road " 
takes the Mecca pilgrims over the river on their long tire- 
some route to the air-hung coffin of the Prophet, the canoe 
was brought ashore. 

Here we part from the bare and bending Pharpar, so 
slow, so silent, so solitary ; winding to the lake to die, and 
yet in dying to rise again — a subtle vapor drawn up to 
heaven by the sun. There in the sky it meets the rapid 
Abana, which has rushed over rocks and through the an- 
cient city, and then oozed to the marsh, and has melted 
into a cloud. We leave these streams, that we may see 
their rivals in Palestine, and so answer the question of the 
Syrian prince, " Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of 
Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel ?"f 

On New-year's Day the Eob Eoy returned to Damascus. 
It is easy to lose count of the days of the week while we 
are travelling among people whose mode of reckoning them 
is not ours. And one collateral benefit to the traveller 
from the Sunday rest (besides its refreshment to soul, and 

* At Nejha, the river Berdy runs into the Pharpar, according to Vande- 
velde's map. In Porter's, no confluent is marked here. The stream at 
Nejha appeared to me only a tiny canal, hanked up behind the village, and 
being but two feet wide in many places, it was not large enough to embark 
upon. Unfortunately I forgot to notice accurately the junction of these 
rivers, but my impression is that the water of the canalette was wholly ab- 
sorbed in irrigation, t 2 Kings V. 12. 



184 



DAMASCUS. 



mind, and body) is the preciseness with whicli it checks 
the computation of time's unnoticed flow.^ 

At Damascus again the Pasha came to see the canoe 
with his suite. He spoke French, so we could converse, 
and he asked very pertinent questions. He is an earnest 
Freemason, and a clever agreeable man. His dress, semi- 
European, was a bad compromise between the two kinds 
of costume — theirs so loose and flowing, so bright and 
graceful, so useless for action, so drearj^ in rain ; and ours, 
as a contrast, fitting our formSj dull in its color, but per- 
fection for manly exertion, and exposure to sun and storm. 
Damascus has never yet, I think, been well described, and 
the reason may be that the traveller who has enough acute- 
ness to paint a good word-picture of the town has sense 
enough to see that it is a sentimental humbug. In vain he 
tries to feel an admiration which he can not support by the 
appearance of the place. It may be the oldest, but, in 
wet weather, it surelj^ is the filthiest of towns. It may be 
rich, but the mud walls are what you see, and not the 
wealth. Damascus is a disappointment; its situation is its 
chief beauty, and, once inside it, you can not realize that 
outside these dirty lanes, tumble-down walls, gloomy shops, 
and crooked bazars, are the lovely groves, the gushing- 
fountains, the teeming gardens, and the glorious hills. For 
the fourth time, then, I leave Damascus, and without any 
deep regret. 

After a night at our old quarters in Dimes, we wended 
round the spur of Hermon to Deir el Ashayeir, with its 
splendid temple. f 

* Some years ago, I entered Cairo on Christmas Day — the bursting of a 
waterskin for the camels having deranged our set days for travel — and Ave 
overtook a party of Englishmen, -whom we had journeyed with some months 
before. "We shall have our turkey together to-night," I said; and they 
inquired with surprise, "What turkey ?" "Why, of course, at our Chnstmas 
dinner," I replied; and they answered, "Christmas? Ave haA-e eaten our 
Christmas pudding ten days ago I" They had tried to gain time by losing 
Sundays. 

t A curious incident is mentioned in the remarks on this place and its 
people in Murray's Handbook : 

"This is a small A-illage, inhabited by a fcAv fomilies of Druses and Chris- 



MOUNTAIN PASS. 



185 



The mountain pass between this and Rukleh presented 
a totally new set of difficulties to the traveller carrying a 
boat. In the marsh and quagmire of Ateibeh it was the 
horse one had to fear most for. In case of his sinking, his 
legs might be easily broken; but the canoe in falling there 
would at least descend upon reeds and rushes and water, 
and from a diminished height. 

But now we had a narrow, steep, and very crooked path, 
at sharp angles, down, down amid slippery rocks, project- 
ing trees, loose stones, and deceitful mud, where the two 
men could seldom hold the canoe steady as the cold winter 
blast from the snow alongside us swayed the lofty top- 
heavy burden this way and that with unwonted violence. 
In some places the ice under our feet gave w^ay suddenly 
with a crash. In others the gnarled trees blocked up all 
passage, or the sharp jutting rocks made it impossible to 
get the boat through between them. This was the sort of 
work that really tries a dragoman by difficulties entirely 
new in his experience ; for who ever before carried a long 
delicate boat on horseback over these rocks in winter? 

Hany behaved splendidly in this business. A dozen 
times we had to carry the canoe by hand, or to slide it 
down cliffs, guiding it by the painter, until the horses, left 
to themselves, could find their way down to meet us below. 

Muscular strength and sheer pluck and endurance were 
needed for this, combined with gentleness, caution, and 
judgment, and backed by indomitable perseverance. One 
slip of their feet on such rocks would have smashed our 
best oak plank in a moment ; one sign of ill-temper would 

tians ; the formei-, like their neighbors of Halwy and Yuntah, have a bad 
character, and deserve it. They are the hereditary pests of the Damascus 
and Beyrout road ; never missing an opportunity of shooting a postman, or 
phmdering a caravan. Franks, however, have httle to fear from them ; in- 
deed they look upon the English as their friends and protectors. On one 
occasion, some years ago, a Yunta chief committed a most cold-blooded 
murder by night, in a house in Suk Wady Barada; but having learned the 
next day that the English Consul of Damascus had been sleeping in an 
adjoining room, he sent him a polite apology for having unconsciously dis- 
turbed his repose, and assured him that had he known the Consul was there, 
he would have postponed his work to a more suitable time." 



186 



TRANSPORTATION. 



hsLve dissolved the allegiance of our muleteers, who must 
have been sorely tried at times to put an end to the cause 
of all this trouble and toil — that incomprehensibly useless 
Eob Roy, carried so far and so tenderly for a purpose they 
could not possibly appreciate, and requiring that the boat 
should be handled so softly while their own limbs were 
bruised, their shoes and garments torn, and their steps di- 
rected with peremptory exactness into mud, or shingle, or 
ice-cold water, all for its sake. Yet the men had learned 
to love the boat (who would not, if he had any heart ?), and 
when they did not like the canoe, they feared it. They 
saw it do things impossible to be done in any other way. 
They were promised good payment for success ; they de- 
served this, and they received it. 



KUKLEH. 



187 



CHAPTEE XIL 

Eukleh. — Bust of Baal. — Mount Hermon. — Kefr Kuk. — Rasheya. — Search 
for Jordan. — Earliest Spring. — Jordan's Eye. — Sad Loss. — Leeches. — 
The Hasbany. — ^Wady et Teim. — Hasbany Source. — First Bridge. — Start 
on Jordan. — Colored Cascade. — Pitch-pits. — Jordan Vale. — The Litany. 
— Storm. — Dripping Bedroom. 

Eukleh is a curious place, and not like any other. 
Our tents were pitched there in a deep valley, hemmed in 
by piles of the sharpest gray rocks tumbled one upon an- 
other in extraordinary confusion. Climbing these, you 
soon perceive that once, in time gone by, every nook of 
the jagged heights had been occupied. Endless winding 
avenues ; gardens hanging upon steeps ; huge walls girding 
amphitheatres where the slightest level space admitted of 
any such expense ; and ruins and temples and altars har- 
bored in rock clefts, all lone and speechless now, but once, 
no doubt, sounding out a busy life ; and tombs and sculp- 
«. tured caverns, the longer-lasting records of ages of death — - 
all these are crowded, almost huddled, together in Eukleh. 
To sit on a high peak and look upon it all is very quaint. 
Some hours passed here richly rewarded the steep clamber- 
ing, and from a rugged edge, out of sight of the camp, 
there were splendid glimpses of the dark Damascus plain ; 
while sheer down below there gaped two huge chasms just 
like the crater of Etna. At the foot of the larger temple 
here is a large medallion in stone, about four feet long, rep- 
resenting a human face which stares out straight upon Her- 
mon, while its curly locks hang on both sides. Most likely 
this countenance is intended for the face of Baal himself. 

Wistful glances could not be restrained from eying Her- 
mon here : it would be so splendid a summit to gaze from 
on all the land of Israel. The ascent is easy at a proper 
season ; but now, with fresh snow every day in the cold of 
January, I came reluctantly to the conclusion that the main 



188 



MOUNT HERMOX. 



object of the tour must be kept to, and the water of hikes 
and rivers was our proper field. 

Yet it was impossible not to urge the plea that the very 
source of the river we were now to examine was up in that 
white shining snow which clad the high summit above us, 
burying the temple there in its soft bosom, and streaming- 
down as the long folds of a robe to cover the valleys be- 
neath. Nay, that snow itself had, no doubt, come up from 
the Jordan and the Pharpar, and was only resting now for 
another devious journey when once more melted from its 
cold sleep by the summer's sun. 

Porter's description of the ascent of Hermon and the 
view from the top must have incited many travellers to en- 
joy the climb and the prospect. Eespecting the general 
features of this, mountain, related as they are so closely to 
the " waterways " we are to traverse in the canoe, I venture 
to extract his account. 

" The name Hermon was doubtless suggested by the form 
of this mountain, ' a lofty conical peak,' conspicuous from 
every direction; just as Lebanon was suggested by the 
' white ' color of its limestone strata. Other names were 
likewise given to Hermon, also descriptive of some striking # 
feature. The Sidonians called it Sirion, and the Amorites 
Shem'r, both signifying 'breastplate,' and suggested by its 
rounded glittering top, when the sun's rays were reflected 
by the snow that covers it (Deut. iii. 9 ; Cant. iv. 8 ; Ezek. 
xxvii. 5). It was also named Sion, the ' elevated,' tower- 
ing over all its compeers (Deut iv. 48; Psalm cxxxiii. 3). 
So now it is called Jebel esJi-SheikJi, 'the chief mountain,' a 
name it well deserves, and Jebel esh-Thelj, 'snowy mount- 
ain.' "When all the country is parched and blasted with 
the summer sun, white lines of snow streak the head of 
Hermon. This mountain was the landmark of the Israel- 
ites. It was associated with their ideas of the northern 
border almost as intimately as the sea was with the west. 
They conquered all the land east of the Jordan, ' from the 
river Arnon unto Mount Hermon ' (Deut. iii. 8 ; iv. 41 ; 
Joshua ix. 12). Baal-Gad, the ancient border city before 



MOUNT HERMON. 189 

Dan became historic, is described as ' under Mount Her- 
mon ' (Joshua xiii. 5 ; xi. 17), and the north-western 
boundary of Bashan was Hermon (1 Chron. v. 23). In one 
passage it would almost seem to be used as a synonym for 
' north,' as the word Jam (' sea ') was for ' west,' and the 
word Kihleh (the shrine at Mekkah) is now for ' south ' — 
"The north and the south, Thou hast created them; Tabor 
and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name ' (Psalm Ixxxix. 12). 
The reason of this is obvious. From whatever part of 
Palestine the Israelite turned his eyes northward, Hermon 
was there terminating the view. From the plain of the 
coast, from the mountains of Samaria, from the Jordan val- 
ley, from the heights of Moab and Grilead, xmd the plateau 
of Bashan, that pale-blue snow-capped cone forms the one 
feature on the northern horizon. The ' dew of Hermon ' 
is once referred to in a passage which has long been con- 
sidered a geographical puzzle — ' As the dew of Hermon, 
the deiu that descended on the mountains of Zion ' (Psalm 
cxxxiii. 3). Zion is probably used for Sion^ one of the old 
names of Hermon (Deut. iv. 48)."^ 

* The snow on the summit of this moimtain condenses the vapors that 
float during summer in the higher regions of the atmosphere, causing light 
clouds to hover around it, and abundant dew to descend upon it, while the 
whole country elsewhere is parched, and the whole heaven elsewhere cloudless. 

Hermon is the second mountain in Syria, ranking next to the highest 
peak of the Lebanon, behind the cedars, and probably not more than 300 
or 400 feet lower than it. The elevation of Hermon may be estimated at 
about 10,000 feet. The whole body of the mountains is limestone, similar 
to that which composes the main ridge of Lebanon. The central peak rises 
up an obtuse truncated cone, from 2000 to 3000 feet above the ridges that 
radiate from it, thus giving it a more commanding aspect than any other 
mountain in Syria, This cone is entirely naked, destitute alike of trees and 
vegetation. Here and there gray, thorny, cushion-shaped shrubs dot the 
ground, but they can scarcely be said to give variety to the scene, they are 
as dry-looking as the stones amid which they spring up. The snow never 
disappears from its summit. In spring and early summer it is entirely cov- 
ered, looking from some points of view like a great white dome. As summer 
advances, the snow gradually melts on the tops of the ridges, but remains in 
long streaks in the ravines that radiate from the centre, looking in the dis- 
tance like the white locks that scantily cover the head of old age. Late in 
autumn only a few white lines are left, round which the clouds cling until 
early in November, when the Avinter raiment is renewed. 



190 



KEFR KUK. 



The little lake of Kefr Kuk soon attracted attention in 
our journey from Eukleli to Rasheya, for the surrounding 
hills were complicated in their watersheds, and it was 
necessary to be on the qui vive for the very first streams 
that enter the Jordan. 

The lake was full,"^ and waterfowl played upon it in 
merry w^hirling groups ; but who could be astonished by 
these crowds of wild birds after seeing the myriads circling 
on the bare lake of Menzaleh, or rustling in the reeds of 
Hijaneh ? 

It was a charming day's journey over this district to 
Rasheya, w^ith weather perfect overhead, and clear, crisp, 
silvery hoar-frost, melting into shining drops as the sun 
rose warm. 

All this was singularly fortunate for allowing the canoe 
horse to pass. 

Yet w^e had to carry the Eob Roy by hand over many 
obstructions, and amid much difficulty and delay. On all 
these occasions the operation of dismounting her had to be 
carefully performed. First, Adoor held the horse's head ; 
Hany and Latdof loosened the girths which strapped the 
canoe to the frame ; then they bore her each with one arm, 
the post of danger and responsibility in every instance be- 
ing that in the rear, where it is harder to see one's foot- 
steps and to advance or retard the pace, or to raise or de- 
press, or move the boat sideways through or over rocks, 
stumps, or other obstacles. 

The horses followed, or found their own way. It was 
play to them ; and to the mules the worst places seemed 
alike with the best, always managed with patient intelli- 
gence — indeed, they were often quite hilarious under their 
heavy loads, and many a caper they cut with redundant 
energy. Each of the animals had plainly a distinct char- 

* A hundred yards from the shore the water was three feet deep, with 
soft sandy clay below, and rapidly shelving. Hany assured me that in sum- 
mer this basin is often quite dry. Its waters may percolate to Jordan, but I 
can not see how they could run there over-ground, so as to constitute the lake 
a perennial source. 



SEARCH FOR JORDAN. 



191 



acter and mode of thought, but each had a high opinion of 
his own importance, and would fling out his hoof at a 
neighbor with playful jealousy of precedence, or a sort of 
rough humor if his rival was a friend. The donkeys alone 
had always true dignity in their gait, never stopping, never 
prancing, ever sure to find out their way somehow or oth- 
er, and often enduring many a needless thwack with stoical 
indifference. 

To get past Easheya there is a cut in the rock, for many 
hundred yards only about six or eight feet wide, and the 
same in depth, with the roughest footing for horses, and so 
narrow and slippery that we had to carry the canoe all the 
distance, about half a mile, and thence reached the pretty 
hamlet of Bekafyeh, where a lovely meadow gave ample 
room for the camp ; and all the villagers sat looking on in 
mute array until the latest moment that the cold night 
wind could be braved. 

In these altitudes day and night were as summer and 
winter in the change. Sometimes I was cold even in bed 
with five blankets over me and my thick cloak, besides my 
day-clothes all kept on, though beneath the sheets. It was 
not very easy to write up a journal with fingers tingling, 
but perfect health makes even a frost-nip enjoyable. 

Early next day I went oflp alone to scour the country, in 
eager hope of finding the first springings of the sacred 
river. Even Vandevelde's map was at fault here, and no 
wonder my way was soon lost entirely for the rest of the 
day. But little mattered that, or any trifling hardship ; 
with such an object for pursuit, one could readily pass the 
night under the coldest, loneliest rock. 

From the hill north of Bekafyeh, and between that and 
El Akalah, I found streams from a tiny spring forty feet 
below the sheep-path, but on following it, these only sank 
back into mother earth exhausted. 

From the same point could be seen two pools on the 
west side of the valley, and bearing W.N.W., but they ap- 
peared to be shut in completely. 

Searching again very carefully — for now was the right 



192 



EARLIEST SPRING. 



time to find the Jordan's source, wben no rain had fallen 
for weeks, and the cold hindered snow from melting — I no- 
ticed a spring in a field, south-west from which a streamlet 
wandered past a house. This gradually increased in defi- 
nite direction and size, and at last ran down the bare sides 
of the Wady et Teim, where was the dry but ample bed of 
the Jordan channel. This is here full of huge white stones 
and mountain-gravel, with steep sides, and the water-worn 




AIN KOB KOY. 



tract of a powerful stream, which no doubt runs deep with 
violence and great volume in stormy times, though the 
river it forms then is only of surface water. 

My little streamlet tumbled into this dry bed — the earli- 
est water I had seen actually on its way to the Dead Sea. 
Dismounting, as the only way to investigate, I forgot all 
about my horse in the excitement of the inquiry. The 
rivulet fell in a pretty cascade over a horizontal ledge of 
strongly stratified rock, about thirty feet wide and five feet 



Jordan's eye. 



193 



thick, with a deep grotto-like cavern hollowed oat beneath 
and forming a beautiful background to the water, which, 
after its fall, is gathered together again as a clear brook, 
and runs down among stones into the desert rockj sun- 
dried channel we have before described. 

About thirty feet to the north-west of this point is the 
ruin of a little building, with only one pillar erect, and 
two prostrate in the grass. Evidently this had been built 
here to look upon the bright cascade, for no other view is 
open. 

Has this ever before been recognized as the youngest 
babblings of Jordan May it not now be regarded as 
the water farthest from the mouth ? 

The opposite bank is steep and rugged, and, as I climb- 
ed the crags, one stone at the top looked rather unnatural^ 
and this on inspection proved to be the jamb of a sculp- 
tured gate still erect, and about eight feet high. Beside it 
lay (north and south) a well-cut slab, the lintel of the door, 
which must therefore have looked straight upon Hermon 
splendidly rising in front, as the other Baal temples do, from 
their posts round the mother-mountain of the idol's cult.f 

Along both sides of the glen are mau}^ hewn stones, so 
scattered and mingled with the natural rocks that only a 
close inspection can detect the difference. A wall lies near 
to the river's brink on the eastern side, a sort of quay of 
huge stone blocks, but the water of our fountain, once it 
has run into the channel, seems too soon satisfied by as- 
serting its claim to be Jordan's earliest rivulet, for it dies 
away in the sand and gravel. Only a few pools appear be- 
low this, though I followed the very precipitous banks 
closelj^, and had to cross the dry bed of boulders many 
times to get along by any means. 

Of course there was no road here, and, walking mj^self, 

* The stream that mns into the Hasbany Pool was remarked, in 1834, as 
having "its origin to the W. or N.W. of Rasheya." The pillars were 
sketched separately, and are more distant in reality from the bed of the 
rivulet. 

t Bekafyeh is not visible from this stone, but, judging by the smoke of the 
village, it bears E.S.E. 



SAD LOSS. 



I drove my horse from point to point, where he could be 
tethered to graze, while his rider clambered up and down 
in the exciting search. 

Three gazelles pranced out of the wild rocks gracefully, 
and T chased them on horseback through many a turn, al- 
ways keeping above them, but in vain, for they were never 
within pistol-shot. 

The position of the hills and villages on distant peaks 
puzzled me now exceedingly. Yandevelde's map is cer- 
tainly incorrect in this district, at any rate, in its names for 
places. 

Wishing to take bearings again, I discovered that m}^ 
compass was missing. Only one who has become fond of 
such a silent but self-moving thing like this, his " intelli- 
gent" companion in months of happy solitude, can tell how 
sad was such a loss. 

How could this have happened? Surely in chasing the 
gazelles. Shall I give it up as hopeless to find the compass 
again ? But how can I survey the waters of Merom and 
the Sea of Galilee without a compass? A minute's weigh- 
ing of doubts, and I resolved to go back and trace, if pos- 
sible, all my devious zigzag from where I had last used the 
compass upon the ruined temple slab. My poor horse, al- 
ready wearied, seemed to wonder at this backward move. 
How much I wished to explain to the faithful spirited 
beast that dire necessity imposed this threefold traverse of 
one wa}^ ! 

It was only when by long labor we arrived in sight of 
the prostrate stone that I could see, and with delight, the 
little brown box still lying on its surftice, open to the sun 
and telling its own tale silently, with the needle ever true, 
and no one there to regard it. Thus three hours were add- 
ed to my wanderings, and at length I descended to a mill 
very deep down, where a confluent from the east brings in 
an ample stream b}^ Es Sefiny — undoubtedly, then, the first 
continuous water of Jordan. 

Three men were in this deep glen, and I begged for 
bread, being very hungry. They laughed outright to see 



THE HASBANY. 



195 



me roll up their wafer-like scones and bolt them in a mo- 
ment. But they refused all payment, for thej were 
Druses,* and I was an Englishman. One said he had been 
at Beyrout, and liked the "Ingleez," for they were " tyeh 
keteer " (exceedingly good fellows). When he had guided 
me over the hills, and would take no pay, I got off my 
horse and shook both his hands, and we parted. The 
country was now rough and stony, with deep deceitful val- 
leys, which seemed at first quite possible to cross, but on 
trial were reluctantly acknowledged to be impassable when 
one had got halfway down them into the shade ; and after 
much of this work, and plunging about in a deep morass, I 
forced my way to the western road, and there fpund Han}^ 
overpowered with anxiety and long waiting, but with the 
canoe reclining quite at ease by a prett}^ stream, fit place 
for a wanderer's dinner. It was under a steep rock, and in 
some of the clefts of this we found several small leeches. 
How they came there was a mystery ; how they lived 
there without a shred of moss in the stony holes, not two 
inches deep, was still more wonderful, but there they were 
and lively too.f 

It was night when we crossed the first bridge which 
spans the Jordan, a short distance below the highest re- 
corded source, not far from the village of Hasbeya, which 
is perched on a knoll encircled by hills, and gives its nan]e 
to the river itself, here called Hasbany, as if it were still 
too small to be called Jordan, being only a babe among 
streams, and not yet christened by its own great name. 

The travellers who have camped here all speak with 
favor of the lovely spot: the spring flowers and crocus 
spangling the green grass, the deep shade of olives, the 
graceful oleanders by the banks of the 3^oung and beauti- 
ful river, cradled here in hills, and watched over b}^ great 
Hermon, stately and shining, the prince of them all. 

* The name of this strange sect is derived from Derazy, their founder, in 
the eleventh century, and their original centre was at Hasbeya, in this 
neighborhood. 

t This is called Ain Alii, the "high fountain." 



196 



WADY ET TEIM. 



It was a happy walk, on January the 7th, to wander up 
the glen and rest by its deep crystal pools, listening with 
rapture to the eloquent voice of solitude. But these wa- 
ters, we were assured by all who know them (and Yande- 
velde had the same information),* are only winter rivulets. 

The sketch given below represents the outlines of the 
country through which they flow, and whence we had come 
in search of the earlier stream, as seen from the cairn on 
the hill above the bridge. The Hasbany is winding in 
the glens below, but it is hidden there until it sweeps 
round the foot of the hill on which we stand, on the top of a 
cairn marked C in the sketch, and which is about east from 
the bridge. 




WADY ET TEIM, KOKTH OF HASBETA. 



Young Jordan is like the prettiest tiny stream in Scot- 
land, with white hollowed rocks and weird caverns, but 

* Yandevelde's "Sj-ria and Palestine," vol. i. p. 128. The high fountains 
of Jordan are described by Wortabet in " Journal of Geog. Soc." vol. xxxii. 
p. 101. 



HASBANY SOURCE. 



197 



the gravel is prettier here than any in my own land ; peb- 
bles of yellow and bright blue banked in b}^ fruitful loam 
of a deep rich red, and all so silent and unaffected. So it 
winds until steeper rocks gird the water, narrowing where 
wild beasts' paws have marked the sand. Keturning from 
a long ramble, we came to where a bold cliff dips into a 
pool of deepest green. Here I launched the Eob Eoy, cer- 
tainly the first boat that ever floated on the pool. The 
few natives round us stopped in wonder, sitting — that is 
their posture for lost astonishment. They assured us this 
pool of Fuarr is a thousand feet deep.^ It is entirely un- 
approachable for sounding from the cliff overhead, so im- 
agination has full sway to fancy it fathomless. The cold 
matter-of-fact sounding- line let down stopped short at 
eleven feet. I was astonished at the illusion, for the water 




riKST SOURCE OF THE JOPwDAN. 



here looked any depth you please. Of course the people 
did not believe my word for this, but nevertheless it is a 
sturdy unromantic fact that less than two fathoms measures 
this abyss. 

The plan here given was carefully sketched from the 

* Newbold says it "appeared to be of immense depth." In the above plan 
the pool is marked at the right. 



198 



FIRST BRIDaE. 



bill above, and corrected from various other points, as rep- 
resenting the true beginnings of Jordan. 

Just opposite the cliff, and a few yards away, is a three- 
cornered island of sand and small gravel, with many low 
bushes on it, and luxuriant spotted clover, and under and 
from out these there bubbles, gurgles, and ascends the first 
undoubted subterranean source of Jordan.* 

There are about twenty of these very curious fountains 
on this islet, and the water runs from them in all directions. 
That which pours out towards the north runs a few feet 
up the stream^ being at first a foot higher in level. The isl- 
and and the rocks near it are formed into a weir, for the 
terribly practical purpose of supplying a mill. Perish all 
the mills and millstones that spoil the birthplace of such a 
stream ! But the weir, happily, is moss-grown, and deli- 
cate cascades tumble through its broken edges, unite be- 
low in a narrow pool about 150 yards long, under the fall 
of ten feet high, and then escape at one end, just as in the 
great falls of the Zambesi, if these could be scanned on a 
Lilliputian scale. 

Camp struck and all things packed, we floated the canoe 
again just below the falls, to begin our descent of the river. 
In front was the bridge, w^ith two pointed arches about 
eighteen feet span,f and sixteen feet high, with a narrow 
roadway of twelve feet broad, and only three or four small 
coping-stones left upon the edge. The stream was swift 
and shallow here, but it occupied only one arch of the 
bridge. 

It was thus on the loveliest of sunny days that we 
shoved off from shore to begin the Jordan, and the iron 
keel of the Eob Eoy sounded sharp on the pebbly beach 
as she gladly rushed into the water, with a cordial but 
faint and doubting cheer from the thin attendance on the 

* This, the Hasbany, was iirst noticed as a source of the Jordan by Fiirer 
von Hamendorf, in a.d. 1566 (p. 206, Niirnberg, 1646, see Newbold's paper, 
1856, p. 15). Next Seetzen did the same, then Burkhardt and Buckingham. 

f These were studiously measured with an umbrella 33 inches long. New- 
bold gives the length of the bridge as 135 feet. 



START ON THE JOKDAN. 



201 



bank, every one of them certain that now, at any rate, she 
must capsize. 

The sketch of the bridge, and the weir and the island of 
springs above it, I made before starting.'^ 

I saw that the numerous rapids now to be encountered 
would endanger 'my paddle, so a long pole was taken 
aboard, and, as I might have to get out often, it was more 
convenient to adopt the plan of sitting first used at the 
Bheinfelden rapids on the cruise through Switzerland, and 
which was always found very good for such places. For 
this you sit, not in the " well " of the canoe, but on the 
deck astern, with your bare legs in the water, or tucked 
up in front, when you have learned to be very steady. 
This action, of course, raises the bow of the canoe entirely 
out of the water, and by depressing the pole to the rocky 
bottom below" you can drag it hard over stones and gravel, 
so as to retard the speed in a powerful current, and, in- 
deed, to stop altogether if this be necessary, and if you do 
not mind the cold waves invading your seat from behind. 

As the stream bears the boat among rocks, you meet 
them with one foot or the other in the water, balancing 
carefully the while, and see that you do not meet the rocks 
with hoth feet at once, or the canoe w^ill instantly pass away 
from under you altogether. If you are w^hirled on to a 
shallow, the bow runs in so far that you can stand on the 
ground and allow the boat to pass on (keeping hold of the 
painter) until, in wading alongside her, the water gets too 
deep, when you spring on the stern again, and so are 
charmingly ferried over. 

* A part of this sketch appeared (a good deal grandified) in the front page 
of an April number of the "Illustrated London News." The village visible 
north of the source is that called Mimes. The town of Hasbeya is not seen 
from the river, as it is perched on a hill, quite encircled by higher mountains. 
Rabbi Schwartz says of this (p. 65): "The Jewish inhabitants of the town 
of Chaspeya carry their dead across the stream to Abel al Krum, because 
they have a tradition that the river Chaspeya formed the boundary line of 
Palestine, and they Avish to inter the dead on the Holy Land. But this 
boundary line was only so after the return from Babylon, as I have shown at 
the proper place above." A tributary falls in from the east near the ford. 



202 



COLORED CASCADE. 



After a little practice I found it not very difficult to get 
out fi'om the " well " to the deck of the canoe without stop- 
ping the boat, even in rough water, and this saves a great 
deal of time. Indeed, the variety of positions and pranks 
that the canoeist can practise with advantage and pleasure 
in paddling, punting, poling, sailing, towing, and dragging 
his faithful floating house over land and water, soon makes 
him weary of the everlasting monotonous swing of a row- 
boat, where he goes into dangers and beauties back fore- 
most, gains no rest from a fixvoiing breeze, and smashes 
his oars, or his boat's hull, or his own face, whenever there 
is a narrow among rocks, or an eddy among trees. 

The river bends below the bridge with all the way- 
wardness of a trout-stream in the Highlands. Thick trees 
hang over its clear surging waters, and reeds fill the bays 
twenty feet high, while rocks, and a thousand hanging 
straggling creepers on them, tangle together over silent 
pools. Who had seen these before the Kob Eoy ? It can 
scarcely be supposed that any other boat had been here, 
and so no man had yet looked on these earliest beauties of 
the hallowed stream. 

I had often to get out of the canoe, and to drag her over 
or round obstructions, and sometimes we went down a 
mill-race for variety, until at last the white tents of m}^ 
camp shone homelike through the thick trees. The sketch 
at p. 204 represents this part of the river. 

Torrents of rain poured upon ns all the night. The 
last rain we had met was on December 17, so that the Jor- 
dan had been seen at a time of drought (for winter). This 
was exceedingly fortunate, both for an auspicious begin- 
ning of the voj^age and for a special examination of the 
effect of rain upon the river. 

Next day, therefore, I rode back to the waterfall, and 
the flood pouring over it was now bright red and resound- 
ing. But it was not all -thus colored. In the middle, and 
where the stream from the subterraneous springs came 
over the fall, only the brightest, clearest, limpid water 
came. It was a piebald cascade, red, white, and red again, 



PITCH-PITS. 



203 



curious, thougli not more beautiful than if no such phe- 
nomenon appeared. The full stream now occupied both 
arches of the bridge, and ran wildly, careering over islets 
that were warm and dry the day before. The rain contin- 
ued, and next day I came back to look at the waterfall; 
but there was the same crystal gushing between muddy 
torrents. Once more, and to certify the fact, I returned 
early next morning, and still it was the same — the unsul- 
lied waters from the deep-fed fountain — protesting in un- 
changing purity against the fitful upstart surface-puddles 
of a passing storm. These rain-flows had no right to min- 
gle with the true source born high in the snow of Hermon, 
and running below through dark channels in clean rocks, 
far out of reach of rain. 

The current had doubled in force and volume, and its 
ruddy waves welled high over the banks, and covered the 
trees a yard deep, roaring the while with anger, and by no 
means inviting to paddle upon. So I climbed one hill 
after another round the camp, and from each had a new 
and splendid prospect. 

It was a pleasant walk to Hasbeya, where eight hun- 
dred Christians were so barbarously massacred in 1860 ; 
but now they have Missionary Bible Schools there — the 
true retribution of Christianity. 

There are some curious bitumen-pits near the Jordan. 
The people live beside them in very simple huts, and they 
go down fifty feet into the earth to fill baskets with the 
black shining treasure, which "grows," they say, however 
much they dig. 

A cHmb up the hightest hill on the west had shown me 
clearly all the Hasbany vale. Looking north, one sees on 
the left a hill range north and south bounding Wady et 
Teim, and from it smaller white knolls are trending always 
eastward. A parallel group of conical hills is to the right 
of this, and asrain another laro-er one to the east. Throuo^h 
this last the Hasbany cuts its way steadily, meandering 
south wajrd, while eastward again are wedge-like ridges and 
the long roots of Hermon, but its head is in the clouds, 



204 



JORDAN VALE. 



sullen and dark. To say 
the very least of this scene, 
it was at any rate curious. 
What it would seem if 
bereft of its holy associa- 
tions and the remembrance 
of a hundred armies that 
came this way from Baby- 
lon or Parthia to the battle- 
ground of Judea, I really 
can not tell, having failed 
(and willingly) in every 
attempt to look at the vale 
of Jordan as a mere river's 
banks. 

Then I rode alone over 
the hills to the riverLitany, 
where it bursts through 
cliffs one thousand feet high, and is crossed by the bridge 
of Burghuz. This is said to be the old river Leontes,"^ 
which rises not far from the Abana, and runs south as if 
trying to find an exit that way. But the hills rise into 
mountains on either side more impenetrable, until at last, 
as if with a desperate effort, the torrent cuts straight through 
the west range in a gorge of magnificent grandeur, and so 
it rushes out to the sea. 

I wandered long without road here, over many a rugged 
and bleak mountain, and returning by the village of Kau- 
kaba, which clings to its perch aloft on the scarped hill, I 
found our tents newly pitched on a fine grassy mound ; in 
fact, the roof of an old deserted khan.f Nothing could 

* But Stanley remarks that Eitter shows this to be a mistake, and that 
the Litany had no ancient name, except the "Tyrian river" ("S. and P." 
p. 414 d). Now it is called the Khasmyeh, the " divider," perhaps because, 
after a long course south, it cuts its channel Avestward. 

t Marked K on p. 204, where B shows a bridge. When a map is so ver}^ 
good as Vandevelde's, it may be presumptuous to add to its information, or 
even to correct. Still I venture to make three remarks: (1.) There is a 
good road to Khan from the Hasbany source on the west side, and without 




VAT.T.KY OF JORDAN. 



STOKM. 



205 



look prettier than this for a place of camping, but it was a 
great mistake to pitch the t'Cnts there. For at night there 
arose a furious storm of wind, almost a hurricane. Each 
moment I feared the worst — that the tent would fall — and 
then what to do ? Of course to get out from the ruins, if 
not already wounded by the tent-pole; but what next? 
The other tent and my men were a long distance off, and 
between us were several holes in the arched roof upon 
which our camp stood. To fall down any of these would 
be instant death, and in the dark it was impossible to see 
them, because no lantern could live in the gale, nor, in the 
din, and darkness, and confusion, could we recollect exactly 
where these holes were. 

. To care for the Bob Eoy was, of course, my first thought 
— the men being in a safe place, and the horses and mules 
ensconced in strong quarters below. I lashed the canoe to 
the earth, mooring her like an iron-clad in a cyclone, yet 
the wind still lifted the light little craft, and a sad remem- 
brance came into my mind of a gale in the Baltic, where 
my canoe was so blown about on land that in my efforts to 
hold her down I was upset several times myself, and was 
bruised and spattered all over with mire. 

The first strange thing one notices in a storm under can- 
vas on shore, is that, however violent the wind, it is the 
tent only that shakes under the pressure. The strongest 
stone house vibrates even in the lower stories in a gale, 
but unless your bed in a tent actually touches the canvas 
walls, the sleeper is perfectly unmoved, while the roof and 
walls of his tabernacle rattle and quiver as if they never 
could hold out for a moment. And is it not a good thing 
in the storms of life to have the living soul, the real self, 
firmly set on the rock steadfast and unshaken, though 
blasts do harry and shatter the frailer tabernacle wherein 
we lodge ? 

passing the bridge (not marked). (2.) There is a road from Khan to Bur- 
ghuz, by the hill defile, without going to Kaukaba (not marked), (3.) 
"Zuk" is marked here as the name of a village, for "Suk," which indicates 
the ' ' fair " held at this place. 



206 



DRIPPING BEDROOM. 



As this was the first good honest storm of rain and wind 
which this new square tent from England had endured, I 
was careful to see how it stood the trial. For resistance 
to the gale it was perfect. The excellent ropes, the long- 
iron tent pegs, the sturdy pole, and the doubled laced sides, 
so well pegged down all round, these sufficiently kept the 
wind from getting under the canvas, and unless you can 
do this in a tent, the whole structure gives way in an in- 
stant. 

On a former tour a storm overtook us at Gaza, and both 
our tents were overturned, when at once the wildest con- 
fusion ensued. Water ran deep on the floor of softest 
mud. Wet canvas caged us in. Camels and horses en- 
tangled in the ropes, and screaming, fell in a jumble to- 
gether in the dark howling night, and all the men roared 
and bellowed at each other to calm the excitement, as in 
duty bound, according to their light. 

As to wind, then, our English-built tent was secure, but 
not as to water. The seams of the roof, instead of being 
along the edges, where the inclination is strongest, and 
therefore the rain runs fastest away, were joined in the 
middle or flattest part of each slope of the roof In an 
hour or two, therefore, water worked through this, and 
soon it came through the inner tent too, until at length 
the rain fell sprinkling cold on my face in bed, and then 
methinks the laziest sleeper must get up. 

But for just such times as these I had brought a piece 
of sheet water-proof, seven feet long and five feet broad, 
the cover of my cabin in the canoe, and this secured aloft 
over the bed received the invading stream, and conducted 
it in a continuous patter all to one corner, where it could 
run off harmlesslj', and with a sweet harmonious lullabj' 
that gendered sleep even in a dripping bedroom.f 

* In the great storm of 1839, in Britain, a small bell-tent, pitched on a 
gentleman's la-\^Ti, near Belfast, was swept off by the wind, and was earned 
a distance of nearly^/z/if2/ 7niles. 

t The ornamental dentellated "flaps " ronnd a tent's roof make a ceaseless 
disturbing chatter in high wind. This I couli not put up with, though not 



WILD BEAST. 



207 



Sunday came next, with morning bright and warm. 
The grass was soon covered by our wet dismantled gar- 
ments spread out to dry, and a half-sleepy life began after 
the sleepless night. The only pleasure was that listless 
one of quiet, and a feeling as if one was having one's hair 
cut by a dumb hair-cutter — the rarest case in London. 
Still the neutral stagnant hours of such a time are not al- 
together without benefit. Dreamy tiredness has its slow- 
paced thoughts, and they may not be brilliant or deep, 
but they are very pleasant. These are breaks in the lines 
of life's story, but they may give emphasis to the quicker 
action which comes after. The compulsory rest of illness 
is a different pause, though it also has its benefits, some of 
them inestimable ; but what I speak of now as pleasant 
and profitable is that half-slumber of mind in a healthy 
but unslept body, relaxed, not lazy, when peace and fine 
weather are outside, no pain within, no particular anxiety, 
no feeling that " it is all our own fault," and no doubt is 
felt that the very best thing to be done (unless we mean 
to lose time) is to rest entirely all to-day. Our more or- 
thodox slumbers at night were rudely broken by loud 
shouts and bustle. Every body seemed to run everywhere 
and to knock down every body, and all this was only be- 
cause a wild beast (species and genus probably imaginary) 
had alarmed the horses. Hany immediately fired four 
volleys into the universal darkness, "to compose" us all. 

very nervous, but " silence for sleep" is a good maxim, ^o I had these use- 
less appendages sewed firmly down. The tent-maker who would make a 
good tent ought to live in a tent in a storm to acquire experience. 



208 



ACROSS THE JORDAN. 



CHAPTEK XIIL 

Across Jordan. — Bloody Fray. — British Officers, — Our Ignorance. — Jordan's 
Streams. — Tell El Kady. — Dan. — Laish, — The Golden Image. — Sounding 
the Source. — Justice and Mercy. — Name of Jordan. — El Ghujar. — Hazor. 

The first valley of the Hasbany ends a little below 
Khan. Wady Sheba, a tributary, enters it on the east, 
crossed by a two-arched bridge. Then the two ranges of 
hills close in upon the river, which tumbles and foams and 
hisses between them, a headlong torrent, quite impossible 
to put a boat upon for several miles. Therefore we car- 
ried the Rob Roy across it here, and round or over the 
mountains towards the next source of Jordan.* 




A F18U FROM THE HASIJANY. 



We are now on terra firma^ and so my tale must be brief, 
for it is meant to be only a log of the waterways, and my 
pen should be quiet when my paddle is ashore. 

The bridle-path on the east side of Jordan was very 
troublesome for the mules. Once, and for the first time, 
the Rob Roy's horse fell on his knee over a broken stone. 
I heard the shout behind me, and looked round stoically 
prepared for a catastrophe, but nothing happened. 

A very old bridge led us over a noisy torrent, hasten- 
ing its tribute to the Hooleh plain. The canoe was floated 

* A Greek priest, fishing in the river near the bridge, brought me his 
Avhole bag as a present. It consisted of two small fish, very like trout. A 
sketch (natural size) of the smaller one is given here. 



BLOODY FEAY. 



209 



over, but at the same time there came a string of asses, 
each bearing a huge load of fragile earthen jars made at 
Hasbej^a el Fokas, and now carried for sale into Bashan. 
These were cleverly packed with one great pot in the cen- 
tre, and the others grouped round it in light matting. The 
sure-footed asses trod their ways thus laden, when one 
single fall or one brush against the jutting rocks on either 
side would have instantly smashed the whole cargo. 

The men joined us for company's sake, and our midday 
meal was spread beside the beautiful stream. Later in the 
afternoon, when suddenly rounding a rock, we came upon 
a fray. One of the pottery merchants had driven his ass 
near a field to avoid the mire and marsh alongside, and 
the owner of the unmarked domain instantly rushed at 
him and broke his ox-goad upon the offender's head, which 
instantly streamed with blood, while the unappeased as- 
sailant whipped out a long curved dagger, and was just 
aiming a blow when we appeared. Our muleteers closed 
upon the man in a moment, seized the sharp dagger and 
pitched it into the marsh, and then brought up the prison- 
er for judgment. The sentence was that he must run the 
gauntlet of our avenging muleteers, but at a suitable wink 
from me he was let off a moment too soon for their prepa- 
rations, and I never saw a man run away faster than he 
did. The district did not seem to be a peaceful one for 
residence. A short time before three dead men had been 
found under a tree close by. Not far from this Hany had 
taken a party of travellers, three English ofi&cers. At 
night the Arabs came and stole all the horses. ISText day 
they had the impudence to send for a sum of money, and 
then again for, at any rate, half the sum. Hany waited 
until next morning early, and found the Arabs all asleep 
in a mill, and the stolen horses inside. The of&cers, each 
with a double-barrelled gun, were quietly posted so as to 
command the sleeping robbers, who were then awakened, 
and in sudden bewilderment of fear they allowed the horses 
to be quietly recovered by their owners. Vigorous means 
were taken to force the Turkish government to bring these 

O 



210 



INCREASING EXCITEMENT. 



men to justice, and at length one and all of them were 
hunted up and punished.* 

All endeavors could not repress the increasing excitement 
which this part of the journey stirred in mj mind. Now 
the Kob Roy is to enter on territory absolutely unknown 
and yet world-wide in its interest, where new discoveries 
are possible and likely, but only to the traveller journey- 
ing thus. Some parts of the Danube, it is true, are entire- 
ly inaccessible by land, and so these were first seen when 
the Eob Roy wandered there four years ago. Large por- 
tions of the rivers which she descended in Norway were 
also first unveiled to her. But what part of the Norse 
Yrangs or the Hohenzollern Donau can compare in interest 
with the bends of holy Jordan ? Yet in the brief run of 
this venerated river, so looked upon by mountains, so 
watched by ancient tribes, and so often pencilled by trav- 
ellers, there are actually portions which no map delineates 
rightly, because no observer has been privileged to see 
them. For ten miles the course of Jordan is almost un- 
known, or its description at any rate is not published, and 
three miles of this interval have most probably never been 
seen before. 

* In a former journey in Asia Minor, I recollect two British officers of the 
Guards were attacked by sixteen robbers, who stripped them of almost every 
bit of dress, and even of their rings. Long, tedious " representations " end- 
ed in nothing. 

In 184:9, Avhile among the Greek islands, becalmed in a little schooner, I 
heard the shaip rattle of musketry, and the big boom of cannon behind a hill. 
To get at the cause of this we entreated the captain to lend us the boat. Pi- 
rates were at their work, and had murdered the crew of a brig. This we 
told at Smyrna, and instantly an English war-steamei', then in port, started 
in piu'suit of the sailors' common enemy, the robbers of the sea. We Avere 
informed afterwards that the pirates were captured, and seven of them were 
hanged. 

These instances are cited to show how much may be done for the repres- 
sion of crime (which is the sad but dutiful prerogative of true humanity) by 
the power and influence of the wiser and more powerful nations, acting even 
in the Moslem's land of hot-blooded murderers. But since the ' ' massacre 
year " (1860), and the energetic action of England and France, the peace of 
the high-roads and the security of the towns of Syria may be said to have 
become "tolerable," considering the people who rule, and the people who 
are ruled, there. 



Jordan's streams. 



211 



Of Palestine itself we are shamefully ignorant, thougli 
the whole area of the country is not larger than Lancashire 
and Yorkshire together. Jerusalem, in a sense the metrop- 
olis of the world, has still many nooks not even visited by 
men who can use their eyes and pens, and yet all that is 
left of that city would easily be contained in Hyde Park. 
In full keeping with this unaccountable ignorance of the 
Holy Land and the Hol}^ City would be our acquiescent 
permission for the Holy Eiver to run on with any portion 
of it still untraced. Jordan is the sacred stream not only 
of the Jew who has " Moses and the prophets," of the 
Christian who treasures the memories of his Master's life 
upon earth, of the cast-out Ishmaelite who has dipped his 
wandering bloody foot in this river since the days of Hagar, 
but of the Moslem faithful also, wide scattered over the 
world, who deeply venerate the Jordan. No other river's 
name is known so long ago and so far away as this, which 
calls up a host of past memories from the Mohammedan on 
the plains of India, from the latest Christian settler in the 
Eocky Mountains of America, and from the Jew in every 
part of the globe. It is not only of the past that the name 
of Jordan tells, for in the more thoughtful hours of not a 
few they hear it whispering to them before strange shadowy 
truths of that future happier land that lies over the cold 
stream of death. 

Therefore, as our view of the wide plains under Hermon 
opened southward, it was with an intense impatient longing 
to reach such scenes of interest. Step by step brought our 
caravan nearer to the waters of Merom, and our gaze was 
soon riveted upon the heavy silent morass that had so long 
guarded the unseen course of Jordan. 

Meanwhile our horses plunged about in very wet ground 
on the plateau above Hooleh, where there are several ruins 
worth visiting, until, deserting the usual track as almost 
impassable (in winter), we reached the well-known Tell el 
Kady by a way of our own. Here is the ancient historic 
source of Jordan, and though the real source is, as we have 
seen, a long way flirther north yet this latter has only been 



212 



TELL EL KADY. 



acknowledged about three hundred years, while the springs 
we have come to visit now were known and reverenced ten 
times as long ago. As the Jordan itself attracts us most, 
because of the part it has played in history, rather than the 
course it now runs as a river, so its ancient reputed source 
will always command more attention than the actual origin 
of its highest waters ; and we may enter somewhat minutely 
into particulars here because the springs of this stream so 
renowned are precisely what the Rob Roy came from afar 
to see. 

Tell el Kady is situated on the east side of the Hasbany, 
which runs crooked here and out of sight in a ravine torn 
roughly rather than cut by its furious waters. About us 
is a ragged bleak jungle of stream-worn plateau shelving 
southward gradually, then at a quicker slope, some five 
hundred feet, down to " Ard el Hooleh," a district low and 
level, about twelve miles long, and five or six in width. 
This is bounded by the hills of Naphthali on the right, and 
those of Bashan opposite, until these two chains approach 
in the distant horizon, and clasp the little lake of Merom 
glittering in the sun. So sweeps the gaze of the eye until, 
satisfied, it rests once more on the giant mountain, ever 
present in the scene, but now, for the first time, behind 
us — 

" That lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm ; 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds be spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. " 

The tell itself is a mound of great size, and its shape, as 
will be seen by the plan on page 215, is rectangular, with 
rounded corners. Its length is about 800 yards, and the 
breadth 250 yards.* The space within is hollow, and 
nearly flat, while the sides or walls are like those of a rail- 
way viaduct, with an average height of thirty feet, but 
much higher at the south-west end, and steep. 

* Captain Wilson's estimate. It appeared somewhat larger to me. Other 
travellers have strangely cut it down to half the size, even Vandevelde, Por- 
ter, and Newbold. 



DAN." 



215 



Ruins are at various parts visible all around and within 
and upon the mound itself, whicli seems to me to be wholly 
artificial ; but it is said to be partly formed by a volcanic 
crater. 

At the south-west corner of the tell is the reputed spot 
where the idol was set up by King Jeroboam."^' 

The word "Dan" in Hebrew means "judge," and 
"Kady" in Arabic has the same meaning; and there 
seems to be no doubt whatever that the town of Dan 
once stood where now is Tell el Kady. But Dan itself 




8 

SOURCE OF THE JORDAN AT DATS. 



had formerly an older name, as we read in the book of 
Joshua (xix. 47), when he speaks of the various tribes re- 
ceiving their inheritance by lot : and the coast of the 
children of Dan went out too little for them : therefore 
the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and 
took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and pos- 

* This is related in 1 Kings xii, 28-30 : "Whereupon the king took coun- 
sel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them. It is too much for 
you to go up to .Jerusalem : behold thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee 
up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other 
put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin : for the people went to wor- 
ship before the one, even unto Dan." 



216 



LAISH. 



sessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after 
the name of Dan their father." A more particular account 
of this incursion is given in the Book of Judges,* where 
we are told that the Danites, feeling their border too nar- 
row, sent five men out to spy the land, and they came to 
Mount Ephraim. Here dwelt Micah, a man who had 
stolen some money set apart by his mother to make an 
idol with. He had found a young Levite, whom he ap- 
pointed as his priest, with a salary of ten shekels a year 
and his board. 

The five spies met the j-oung priest, and talked with 
him. Then they " came to Laish, and saw the people that 
were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the man- 
ner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure ; and there was no 
magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in 
any thing ; and they were far fi'om the Zidonians, and had 
no business with auj man. And thej^ came unto their 
brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said 
unto them, What say ye? And they said, Arise, that we 
may go up against them : for we have seen the land, and 
behold, it is very good: and are ye still? .Be not 
slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. When ye 
go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land : 
for God hath given it into your hands ; a place where 
there is no want of any thing that is in the earth." The 
Danites then set off and passed Micah's house, and after 
some parleying, they enticed the Levite to come with them 
as priest to their band, which numbered six hundred 
chosen men. 

"And they took the things which Micah had made, 
and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a 
people that were at quiet and secure : and they smote 
them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with 
fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from 
Zidon, and ihej had no business with any man ; and it 
was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they 
built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the name 

* Chapters xvii. and x^-iii. 



THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 



217 



of the city Dan, after tlie name of Dan their father, who 
was born unto Israel : howbeit the name of the city was 
Laish at the first. And the children of Dan set up the 
graven image : and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son 
of Manasseb, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of 
Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they 
set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the 
time that the house of God was in Shiloh." 

But Tell el Kady, besides its claim to attention as being 
Dan, and farther back old Laish, is the spot where the Jor- 
dan issues from the deeps of the earth in a noble spring, 
said to be the largest single source in the world. 

In the four-sided inclosure already described is a most 
tangled thicket, quite impenetrable to man, and perhaps al- 
most to beasts. Round it is a low quadrangular raised 
dais, and the remains of what once was evidently a s|)len- 
did amphitheatre, often, perhaps, thronged with spectators 
of the idol's rites. 

Scattered trees, still in some sort of order, dot the wide 
space beyond, but the thorns of the brake itself, a dark and 
thick screen even in mid- winter, must be ten times more 
dense in spring, or in the luxuriance of summer growth. 
These cover a hidden pool, which defies all efforts to en- 
ter its retreat, but, under a pit half filled by heaps of old 
gray stones,* you can just hear the smothered murmuring 
of pent-up secret waters, and on the west side of the em- 
bankment, beneath a mass of fig-trees, reeds, and strongest 
creepers, the water issues free into the day, and filling up 
to the brim the circular basin a hundred feet wide. Here 
the new-born Jordan turns and bubbles, and seems to 
breathe for a while in the light, and then it dashes off at 
once a river, with a noisy burst, but soon hiding its foam 
and waves in another thicket, and there its loud rushing is 

* These should be taken out by the Palestine Exploration Fund. Some- 
thing -worth finding is likely to be there. Josephus, when describing how 
stones were heaped upon a dead body after a battle, plainly indicates that 
the body was in a hollow, and so the heap Avould only fill up this to the level 
of the ground about it, which would therefore be unnoticed in a few hun- 
dred years. 



218 



SOUNDING THE SOURCE. 



shrouded in darkness as it Lurries away to the mysterious 
plain. 

In much less time than is required to read these lines, 
the Kob Eoy was dismounted and was floating on this pool, 
while the muleteers stood round to see, but now quite pre- 
pared for any wonder. After their recent experience of 
the boat on the Abana, the Pharpar, the lakes of Damas- 
cus, and the swift Hasbany, they thought that the canoe 
could do any thing she tried. 

As before, so now, they told me this pool also was bot- 
tomless, and, to be prepared for the strange current 
gurgling from below and circling about in all ways right 
and left with uncertain eddies, I sat upon the deck with 
my legs in the water and a sturdy pole in my hands. 

Behold the abyss of the Dan source of Jordan, it is only 
five feet deep ! After a full examination of it all, the ca- 
noe was carried to our tents, which were pitched inside the 
inclosure, and almost hidden by the rich foliage of the in- 
ner stream. This last* has been led to the south-west cor- 
ner of the mound, and then through that (broken down 
for the purpose) it rushes out to turn a mill, which nestles 
among the brambles, and seems half ashamed to drive its 
trade just under the old altar of the golden calf A splen- 
did terebinth and a not less splendid oak droops over 
this little stream, and the soft breeze of a dank evening 
waves the countless old rags hung upon the branches 
in honor of some long-dead worthy of the Mohammedan 
sect. 

A crowd of men came next day as a deputation on the 
matter of the ass-driver's broken head. These pleaded for 
our pardon. His bloody cheeks and gashed forehead 
urged grim justice. After long parleying to establish the 
enormity of their offense, I gave an Englishman's merciful 
sentence, and restored the dagger we had captured in the 
fight. Then all of them went off well pleased and — quite 

* That all the water in both the confluent streams comes evidently from 
the same source within the inclosure is, I think, quite clear on examination. 
What is hid from the eye is plain enough to the ear, in the pile of stones. 



SOURCES OF THE JORDAN. 



219 



ready to do the same deed again ! Not long ago it was a 
matter of risk to camp long in such a place as this, even 
with guards. But here we settled to stay and without any 
escort, and I roamed the savage country round without 
any attendant whatever. No bravery is needed for this, 
but only quiet attention to a few simple rules.* 

We are now at the second source of Jordan, and the 
stream that gushes forth here from Tell el Kady is named 
the Leddan. Of the three several fountains which form 
that wonderful river, the Hasbany may be considered as 
the Arab source, the spring at Dan as the Canaanitish 
source, and the fountain at Banias as the Koman source. 

Josephus speaks of Dan as at " the fountains of the less- 

* One of these rules was not to heed one man at all, but if two were in 
sight, and they seemed to be in concert, then to go straight up to one of 
them, when the other was sure to come too. I had my pistol then, not a re- 
volver, but a far more useful weapon, with only one baiTel, and a bayonet 
which jumps out when you touch a spring. This I have carried on such occa- 
sions for twenty years, and find that, when people come near in out-of-the-way 
places, and some of them are curious, an admirable effect is produced by ask- 
ing them to "look" while the bayonet leaps out, Arabs (of this prowling 
sort) all know the revolver well, and there is no excuse for exhibiting it to 
them ; besides they would ask to handle it too. But the other pistol is a 
novelty, and one can offer to show it as such. The moment the bayonet 
darts out, there is sure to be surprise, or even a start ; and while its unex- 
pected power can be exhibited (and with the bayonet thus fixed, you are a 
match for any man quite close), the show has the air of a gratuitous favor, 
not a Avarlike challenge, though virtually it is a vivid symptom that one 
party at least is ready for action. 

With more than two men, a single traveller does wisely to rely on moral 
means alone. If actually attacked by three armed Arabs, his chance would 
be small indeed, and suppose that he was justified in killing two, and able 
and willing to do it, the vengeance of their more distant comrades would be 
certain. With the Avhole tribe it might become a religious duty to wipe out 
blood by blood. 

Besides this, it is to be remembered that, while one man or two might at- 
tack to rob and plunder, the united advance of more than this would usually 
be made with the intent, not to murder or to rob, but to capture and get a 
ransom. The first kind of attack is mere footpad's war ; it is right to resist, 
even according to the laws of the wildest horde ; but for the second — the en- 
deavor to catch a European, who has not taken the proper course of procur- 
ing a guard or escort — there is more than a shadow of reason in favor of the 
aggressors, and one can not forget that other tribes than these have drawn 
their broadswords for blackmail. 



220 



NAME OF THE JORDAN. 



er Jordan,"* and an imaginary derivation was early givenf 
and even long maintained for the very name of " Jordan," 
as compounded of " Ghor" and " Dan." But the name of 
Jordan occurs in the time of Abraham, five centuries before 
the title Dan was given to the town of Laish. The Jordan 
is never called in Scripture " the river " or brook," or by 
any other name than its own ; and it may be considered 
as proved by Eobinson and Stanley that the word " Jor- 
dan " is only the word larden of the Hebrew, which signi- 
fies "the Descender" — rightly due both to the fast flow 
and the enormous fall of the river, which also " descends " 
into the earth lower than any other in the world.:]: The 
Jordan is also said to be the most winding of rivers, but 
the Pharpar certainly winds more. 

After examining the runlet of surface-water which bears 
a muddy tribute into the clear pool of the source at Dan, 
and being satisfied that this is only the drainage of the 
morass behind, and is dried up entirely in summer, I rode 
to the old Hasbany again, which had cut its channel so 
deep as to have eluded our sight towards the end of the 
day's journey. This ride was very difficult, when so much 
rain had lately drenched the teeming plain. For an hour 
Latoof and myself were struggling through water-courses 
and thick bushes. In two of the four larger streams the 
current almost carried us away. Arrived at the river, we 

* " Antiq. of the Jews," book v. ch. iii. sec. i, ; and book viii. ch. viii. sec, iv. 

t Even in Jerome's time (Robinson, vol. iii. p. 352) ; and in the Talmud. 

X Stanley says that only the Sacramento has so great a fall as Jordan has 
from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea (" Sinai and Palestine," p. 284). 
The physical features of the river in general will be alluded to in a summary 
farther on. 

Captain Newbold dilfers in some particulars from those in my notes. He 
says the mound at Dan is about 300 paces in circumference, that the volume 
of water is at least as much as from the Banias fountain. He cites an Arab 
authority for the usual erroneous supposition that the united stream enters 
the lake "nearer its eastern than its western angle." He says Abulfeda 
called the Jordan "El Urdun." (" Journal of Asiatic Society," vol. xvi. pp. 
12, 13). He considers it highly probable that Banias was Baal Gad (p. 27). 
He never mentions the papyrus, though a list is given of the plants about 
Jordan, His paper is, however, the most full description of Jordan's sources 
hitherto published. 




HARPER * BROTHERS, NEW YORK 



HAZOE. 



221 



followed it for a mile down to the bridge of El Ghujar,* 
which with three crooked old arches, all of unequal spans, 
crosses the Hasbany as it roars in a wild glen. The bridge 
itself is, of course, more easy to reach, even on a dark 
winter's eve, as being in some sort upon a thoroughfare ; 
but we then turned, where no path leads, along the Has- 
bany to its latest traverse of the high plateau before the 
torrent rolls over headlong into the Hooleh marsh. La- 
toof was thoroughly well versed in the intricate water- 
ways of this wold ; and unless he had been so, it would 
certainly have been dangerous to make such a circuit, with 
night approaching, and when every streamlet was swollen 
into a red and angry torrent, and several times so deep as 
to cause us to hark back and try to ford elsewhere. 

But for this toil there came reward in finding, format 
least a mile, huge blocks of stones laid out in circles and 
squares, far too many and too big, and in a place too wet, 
to be old Arab camps, but plainly, in my opinion, the rel- 
ics of a very ancient city. These stones extend quite up 
to the river's bank, which here is very steep, and their 
weather-worn aspect, their enormous size and vast numbers, 
their strange aggregations, wherein form and method were 
clearly visible, though amid such confusion and wreck, im- 
pressed me very strongly with the conviction that this 
might be the site of ancient Hazor. Other travellers have 
been here, and usually not in winter. In dryer seasons 
they could, therefore, move more easily amid these stone 
blocks by riding on harder ground ; but their bare desola- 
tion in January was better than the high rank undergrowth 
of summer for exploring, and it also enforced our atten- 
tion by laying bare great numbers of these stones at once, 
and giving to the whole scene a wide significance. Care- 

* Finn says ("Byeways in Palestine," p. 370) that his guide called the 
river itself El Ghujar. Porter does not seem to mention this bridge as El 
Ghujar. Wilson saw the water running through only the western arch, but 
it filled all three channels during my visit. The bridge is 65 paces long, and 
four paces broad ; two of the arches are slightly pointed, the third being 
round. A rough sketch of the bridge I have inserted ir Map V. The Lui- 
sany enters near this as a tributaiy. 



222 



HAZOE. 



fill examination of some of the stones showed that a pro- 
portion, at least, of them had been hewn. I looked for in- 
scriptions in vain, but the writing of old time was there 
without letters ; and I would earnestly suggest that this 
district should be far more diligently scrutinized than it 
appears to have been from what is told about it in travel- 
lers' books. 

Subsequent examination of the texts in Scripture and 
the Maccabees and the notices by ancient and modern au- 
thorities upon the site of Hazor have convinced me that 
De Saulcy is right in his supposition that Hazor was here. 
In his " Journey round the Dead Sea and in the Bible 
Lands " (1854:), he describes a visit to this place, and how 
he found the ruins of a vast building like to the Temple in 
Gerizim in plan. His investigation seems to have extend- 
ed chiefly along the southern ledge, but much farther 
north I found the ruins quite as thickly strewn. Three 
venomous snakes from under the stones attacked De Saul- 
cy's party. This, and the utter devastation of the scene, 
may well remind us of the prophecy of Jeremiah (ch. xlix.) 
— " And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a des- 
olation forever : there shall no man abide there, nor any 
son of man dwell in it." 



BANIAS. 



223 



CHAPTER XIY. 

Banias. — Csesarea Philippi. — Cavern. — Josephus. — Three Streams of Jor- 
dan. — Phiale. — Our Saviours Visit. — The Great Question. — Peter. — 
Crusaders' Keep. — View from Subeibeh. — Anxious. — Mansoura. — Parlia- 
ment. — Catechism. — Costumes. — Nose-rings. — Water-ways. — Bright 
Eyes. — Enter Arabs. 

The Rob Roy had now floated on two of the great 
sources of Jordan ; but another and the most interesting 
had yet to be seen.* This is at Banias, about an hour's 
pleasant ride from Tell el Kady eastward though a well- 
wooded district and over springy turf. Here we are just 
within the bounds of the land of Israel, reaching " from 
Dan to Beersheba ;" and here at once we come upon a hal- 
lowed spot, for Jesus himself had tarried in the place, had 
wrought there miracles of mercy, had spoken deep loving 
words of wisdom, and had manifested forth his heavenly 
glory after a manner never seen elsewhere. 

For at this little village of Banias was once the town of 
Csesarea Philippi. Like some other old places, it had 
several different names. According to Robinson and Rab- 
bi Schwartz, the place was that called in the Bible Baal 
Gad.f Then the Greeks named it Paneas, and the Romans 

* A fourth, but minor, tributary to the Jordan, not mentioned by the 
ancients, is found in the springs of Esh Shir, 2 j miles east by north of Phiale 
Lake. They form a rivulet a yard broad, and a foot deep, which runs by 
the north side of the lake, between it and Majdel, increased by several springs 
in its course down the deep defile of Wady esh Shir, and passing close to the 
south of Banias, by Wady el Kid, joins the Banias Piver in the basin of 
Hooleh. Captain Newbold " saw it in the month of May, when no rain had 
fallen for many days ; it was then six yards wide, and two feet deep, clear 
and rapid." The Arabs assured him it never dries up ("Journal of the 
Asiatic Society," 1856, vol. xvi. pp. 15, 16). 

t Schwartz says (p. 61) : "It was there that the image of the cock-idol 
was worshipped by the Cutheans, in the town of Tarnegola, consecrated to 
the god Nergal (2 Kings xvii. 30). . . . The more recent name of the time 
of the Crusaders of ' Bellas ' for ' Banias ' is founded upon the original appel- 
lation of the same Baal-gad (Joshua xi. 17J." 



224: 



C^SAEEA PHILIPPI. 



Caesarea, wliile the Arabs, who have no letter^, now call it 
Banias (as "pasha" becomes " basha "). A long time 
might well be spent in examining the curious relics here, 
and to describe them fully would occupy some pages ; but 
this has been well done by Porter with his usual clear suc- 
cinctness, and our business now is only with what concerns 
this source of Jordan. 

In riding up a gentle rise from the morass, we soon meet 
the new river tumbling its young waters among beautiful 
old ruins, bridges, walls, and fallen pillars, the broken 
relics of grandeur and elegance, mingled with trees and 
undergrowth of most exuberant forms. The hum of run- 
lets underground and the louder dashing of cascades above 
give animation to what else would be desolate. The 
head of all is in front of a steep-faced cliff about eighty 
feet high, of white and pink stone, much scathed by 
weather and cut about by man. Niches aloft, but empty, 
tell plainly of great statues and idols. Numerous inscrip- 
tions upon the cliff speak even now of Pan, though with 
a mutilated story.* Above them is a zueli/, dedicated to 
M Khiidr, the Moslem. St. George ; and thus we have 
grouped round this grotto the emblems that show it was 
sacred to the Baalite, the Jew, the Greek, the Eoman, the 

Again (p. 80) : "It was there that the idol Baal-gad, already existing in 
the time of Joshua, was Avorshipped as late as the days of Isaiah (ch. v. 11), 
'who set a table for the Gad^ (English version, ' for that troop,' which, how- 
ever, hardly means any. thing ; whereas it is highly significant when taken as 
the name of a heathen divinity)." 

Stanley places Baal Gad at Baalbek. Thomson seems to think that 
Eehob was at Banias (" The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 391). Schwartz 
tells us (p. 202) that "About three mill north of Banias, there is a mount, 
on which there is an old building having several cupolas. There is a tradi- 
tion that the ' covenant between the pieces ' with Abraham (Gen. xv. 9) was 
made on this spot ; the Arabs call it Meshhad al Tir, {. e. the covenant or 
testimony of the bird (turtle-dove ?), in reference to the ' bird ' referred to, 
ibid. V. 10." 

It had one more name given to it according to Josephus (" Antiq. of the 
Jews," book xx. ch. ix. sec. iv.) : "... King Agrippa built Ccesarea Phi- 
lippi larger than it was before, and in honor of Nei'O named it Neronias." 

* Some of these are copied in Finn's " Byeways in Palestine " (Appendix). 
The stream of Banias is crossed by a bridge of one arch, very slightly pointed. 



JOSEPHUS. 



227 



Christian, and the Moslem, each in turn. A lofty and 
wide cavern opens deep in the rock, and just in front of 
this, outside, and not from within, but apparently from at 
least the level of the cavern's present floor, a copious flood 
of sparkling water wells up and forward through rough 
shingle, and in a few yards it hides its noisy dashings in a 
dense jungle."^ 

Josephusf thus writes of this rock and cavern : " So 
Csesar bestowed his country, which was no small one, upon 
Herod ; it lay between Trachon and Galilee, and contained 

UlathaJ and Paneas, and the country round about 

So when he had conducted Csesar to the sea, and was re- 
turned home, he built him a most beautiful temple, of the 
whitest stone, in Zenodorus's country, near the place called 
Panium. This is a very fine cave in a mountain, under 
which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern 
is abrupt and prodigiously deep, and full of a still water ; 
over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the caverns arise 
the springs of the river Jordan. Herod adorned this place, 
which was already a very remarkable one, still further by 
the erection of this temple, which was dedicated to Caesar." 

In another passage Josephus§ varies his account of the 

* Wilson mentions the stream that flows above ground to swell that from 
the cave as formed from springs in a shallow valley, near Jebata Khusseh, 
while on the other side of a ridge there the springs flow to the Yarmuk. 
Newbold estimates the width of the front of shingle as 150 yards, but it ap- 
peared to me much less. The position of the fountain, as given by Captain 
Wilson, is lat. 33° 14' 45'' N., and long. 35° 38' 57" E. He says tliat in the 
cavern there is a large accumulation of rubbish, and some little moisture, and 
that the spring appears to have issued directly from it at one time, and there 
was probably a large pool, over which may have been erected a temple, simi- 
lar to that at Ain Fijeh, though on a more extensive scale. The fountain 
issues from the limestone, just at its juncture with the trap formation. In 
front of the wely the limestone has a dip of 15°, and strike of 250°, 

The stream bridged in W. Zaareh, joming the fountain stream, had (in Jan- 
uary) about one-fourth of the volume of the latter stream ; the W. Khoshabe' 
has about one-twentieth of that volume, and joins it a little higher up. 

t "Jewish War,'' book xv. chap. x. sec. iii. 

X This evidently means the Ard elHooleh. 

§ "Jewish War, "book i, ch. xxi. sec. iii. Schwartz tell us (p. 203, note) : 
" In ' Bereshoth Rabba, ch. xxiii., it is said ' Three springs of Palestine and 



228 



THREE STREAMS OF THE JORDAN. 




cavern and source, but by combining the two versions, 
it appears to me that the springs did always in old times, 
as now, issue from the front outside the cave, and not 
from within. The cavern was quite dry when I visited it. 

The plan of this place given above is merely a rough 
map of the land and water in front of the cave^ This is 
the " greater source " of Jordan, that longest recognized as a 
beginning of the river; and it is not easy either to tell how 
much water comes from any one of the three sources sep- 
arately or to compare their relative quantities when you 
are looking at one only, and the other two, being distant, 
can only be reviewed by memory. 

On the whole, and after a careful examination of them 
all, and a further inspection (to be described later) of the 
Banias and the Hasbany at their point of junction, I come 
to the conclusion that the Hasbany source is less than that 
at Banias, though the former river is the larger where the 
two unite, and that the source at Dan is larger than that at 



its vicinity remained not closed np after the flood (Gen. A-iii. 2), the springs 
at Tiberias, Abilene, and the one of the Jordan issuing from the cave at 
Paneas.'" The Talmud says the same (Neubaner, 34, 37.) Pliny speaks 
only of the fountain here as the source of Jordan (" Xat. Hist." xv.), 

* A photograph of part of the springs is published by the Palestine Explo- 
ration Pund, and several views about Banias. 



PHIALE. 



231 



Banias, thongli the Dan waters disperse afterwards and fail 
to reach the others in any one particular channel. 

Josephus mentions^ that Philip the Tetrarch discovered 
a still higher source of Jordan than Pan's Cave, in the little 
cup-like lake of Phiale, four hours distant from Banias. 
To test the matter, he put chaff into this pool, and it came 
out at the rock of Banias after passing underground. This 
is frequently referred to in travellers' books. From Irby 
and Mangle's account (p. 288), it seems to have been con- 
sidered by them, and Kobinson agrees (vol. iii. p. 350), as 
well as Stanley (' S. and P.' 391), that this discovery of 
Philip was barren. It is given as a reason for this that the 
water could not pass underground from Phiale to Banias 
because it would have to go beneath a certain streamlet 
described as lower than the level of Phiale. . Wilson says 
the lake (Phiale) lies at the bottom of a cup-shaped basin, 
and has no outlet, though there is no stream running direct- 
ly into it ; it appears to receive a great portion of the sur- 
face drainage of the plain or sloping ground on the north- 
east. 

Captain Newbold,f who also examined the Birket er 
Eam (Phiale) with care, says that the lake is three thou- 
sand paces in circumference, the taste of the water " a little 
brackish and flat," the temperature 75° Fahr. (air 78° in 
shade). The temperature of the Banias spring at the same 
time was 58°. The lake abounds with leeches and frogs. 
Then he says : " I repeated the experiment of Philip the 
Tetrarch, but the straw thrown in remained motionless on 
the surface. The loss by evaporation would be amply suf- 
ficient to account for the lake's never overflowing." A 
water-mark showed the lake had been six inches higher in 
winter. 

Though Captain Wilson sought for subterranean pas- 
sages leading from the fountains of Banias, none could be 

* " Jewish War, " book iii, ch. x. sec. vii. 

t "Journal of the Asiatic Society, " vol. xvi. (1856) p. 8. The small lake 
south of Banias, and shown in my picture (post, p. 237), is also called Birket 
er Ram, 



232 



OUR saviour's visit. 



found. The impure water of Phiale is very different from 
the sweet water of the fountain. The deep ravine of Wady 
em Keib lies between Phiale and the fountain. The cleft 
of W. Khoshabe cuts off communication between the 
fountain and the pool near Sheba, which some supposed 
was a source of the river; the rapid dip of the strata west- 
erly would not allow the water to run to the fountain. 
The sheikh at Banias said straw had been put in at Sheba 
and appeared at the Banias fountain. This was most like- 
ly a fabrication, built upon accounts of the other experi- 
ment already noticed. The amount of water from the 
fountain was doubled after rain. It may, therefore, be 
considered as quite settled that the fountain of Banias is 
the first real source of Jordan in that direction. 

A little stone shanty beside the great rock"^ served me 
as a shelter from a shower of rain, as I came here all alone, 
and my horse was put into Pan's Cavern, while I heaped 
wood on the still warm embers of the deserted fire, and 
made myself at home. 

The house of this trustful shepherd had no door. He 
had left every thing quite open inside, so I was very soon 
comfortable, and greeted the venerable proprietor when he 
returned, telling him the one cardinal fact that I was an 
Englishman. 

Csesarea Philippi would have been interesting enough to 
see with what has been told already as its features — the 
grand mountain views around it; the worships of Pagan, 
Turk, and Jew, each with their S3^mbols; the Crusaders' 
ruined keep, and the fights of the Cross ; and, oldest of all, 
yet ever fresh, the source of the Jordan. 

But a higher holiness was printed on this rock when the 
foot of Christ came here, seeking for "the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel, "f even on the outskirts of the land where 
they wandered. 

* Thomson, in "The Land and the Book," gives woodcuts representing 
this rock and the Phiale pool. 

t The wely marked in Map Y. as Neby Seid Yuda — the "tomb of the 
Lord Judah " — may be (Thomson thinks — vol. i. p. 390) what is alluded to 



THE GREAT QUESTION. 



233 



He had healed the blind man of Bethsaida.* If this 
was the eastern town of that name, our Lord next went by 
the waters of Merom until He " came into the coasts of 




NEBY SEID YUDA. 



Csesarea Philippi."f Then was that searching question 
put, and that solemn pledge was given, which is recorded 
in these verses : 

" He asked his disciples, saying. Whom do men say that 
I the Son of Man am? 

" And they said, Some say that thou art John the Bap- 

in Joshua xix. 34, when he describes the borders of Naphthali as reaching 
"to Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising." 

* Mark viii. 22. So "He is gone to Kisrin " (i. e. Csesarea ; to express 
the farthest limit). — Neubauer, 238. 

t Matt. xvi. 13. The word "coasts" is expressive as describing "the 
towns " (Mark viii. 27) on the edge of the wide watery plain. 



234 



PETER. 



tist : ^ some, Elias ]'^' and others, Jeremias, or one of the 
prophets. 

" He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am ? 

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. 

" And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art 
thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not reveal- 
ed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 

" And I say also unto thee. That thou art Peter, and 
upon this rock I will build my church : and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it. 

" And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

"Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no 
man that he was Jesus the Christ. 

" Andf he began to teach them, that the Son of man 
must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and 
of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after 
three days rise again. 

" But when he had turned about and looked on his dis- 
ciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Gret thee behind me, 
Satan : for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but 
the things that be of men." 

Too often the latter part of this conversation is omitted 
when the first is given. At the same place and time, when 
Peter was called a "stone," he was called "Satan." We 
are content to be built in with Peter just so long as Peter is 
a "living stone" on Christ, the "Eock of Ages."J 

Where this scene took place can not be ascertained now. 
Mark says it was " by the way " (ver. 27), but a fond fancy 
would fix it dramatically under the rock at Banias. 

* The people were likely to say this, if it was here that Elijah appeared 
with Moses. t Mark viii. 31, 33. 

t Let those Avho assemble under the dome of St. Peter's, encircled by the 
promise given to the apostle, written there on a blue band above them, think 
well whether the " lively stones " of Christ's Church are new doctrines in- 
vented by man, or new men converted to Christ. 



BANIAS. 



235 



God seems to have withheld from us precise knowledge 
as to the places of His most glorious deeds, that the lessons 
taught by them might be free from mere local interest, 
being for all people everywhere, and for all time — aye, for 
eternity itself and every universe.* 

Then " after six days " our Saviour took his three apos- 
tles " into a high mountain " to be transfigured, and to 
speak with the prophet and the great lawgiver. He had 
called himself the "Son of Man " to the apostles; now he 
was proclaimed as " My beloved Son " by the very voice 
of Jehovah. All this took place near Banias, and much 
better is it that no one can say exactly where. The words 
and deeds are glorious and thrilling, but they are meant for 
the whole earth, and not for a single spot to make its own. 
From this farthest point of his walk of mercy through 
Israel, the Saviour turned back again to scenes of agony 
and death. He had fortified his faithful ones by his king- 
like promise ; he had been fortified himself by his Father's 
voice out of the " bright cloud ;" and now and for the last 
time " He set his face to go nnto Jerusalem." 

From Banias I rode to the splendid ruin of the castle of 
Subeibeh. This still stands proudly on a height guarded 
by sheer cliff all round, except at the entrance gate ; and 
to reach this — the only way in — the pilgrim must pass a 
long narrow path, wholly opened to the view of a defending 
garrison, and completely at their mercy if he comes as an 
enemy. Murray's Handbook almost entreats the traveller 
not to miss this place. His words are not too urgent, for 
it is, on the whole, the most magnificent relic of such a 
fortress to be seen. Heidelberg is not so large, nor has it 
any thing like the view we have before us here. Towers 
and bastions are round about, and huge walls and court- 
yards fill the ample space within. f A thousand men here, 

* Perhaps the spot most nearly known and quite undoubted is that where 
the Great Preacher "sat thus on the well," and preached a full sermon to 
the most empty of congregations, even to one fallen woman. 

t Thomson describes the vast number of scoipions found here in sum- 
mer. The inhabitants, to avoid these, build little booths on long poles to 
dwell in. 



236 



YIEW FROM SUBEIBEH. 



more or less, would not crowd the "visitors' rooms," or 
weigh upon the grand old masonry. Built by the Herods 
iirst, perhaps, or by Phoenician masons, it was an outwork 
afterwards of the Holy Wars, when nations were fired 
with frenzy for the Land of the Cross. Xow we can 
scarcely beg a few guineas from the world to uncover the 
buried ruins of Palestine. 

My rifle beside me, but no one in sight or hearing, I had 
a fit of melancholy meditation here, deploring our degen- 
erate days that leave such a noble stronghold in the hands 
of the feeble Turk — his, too, for the last seven hundred 
3'ears. But it was not to be moody I climbed up to Subei- 
beh, nor, indeed, was it to see this old castle with its cold 
gray stones. I came to scan from hence how the Eob 
Eoy could paddle through the marsh of Hooleh; to get, 
if possible, some little inkling of where the Jordan spreads 
its lost waters, and how they are gathered again into one 
before the last long leap of " the Descender." 

From this lonely perch, about 1500 feet above the plain, 
the panorama is superb. The hills of Bashan are cleft in 
front, and they frame the wide-spread picture. To the 
left, and farthest off, are the gleaming waters of Merom. 
In front is the Galilean chain, and on the right is Hermon — 

"Like TenerifFe or Atlas imremoved." 

Down in the level hollow stretches the wide morass, of 
dark and even color, gloomy, but with pools and lakes and 
strips of disjointed water shining in the sun like the last 
snow-wreaths of spring on a half-melted lawn. The most 
careful scrutiny could not detect any method or sequence 
in these water-patches."^ Viewed as a mere landscape, one 
might fancy, indeed, some possible channel between them; 
but a more practical connection must be discerned before 
the canoeist can trust his boat on such a patchwork of wa- 
ter, without at least some possible route determined. Oft- 

* Thej are inserted in the drawing here as accurately as I could make 
them out. Thomson gives a sketch, but from a lower point of view. See 
ante, p. 213. 



ANXIOUS. 



239 



en in Sweden I had to climb high hills to spy out the way 
through the archipelagos on the great lakes, several of 
them eighty miles long. But the grand difference there 
was that the canoe might be stranded a dozen times or lost 
altogether, and yet there would be no danger to its crew 
from man or beast ; and it certainly is one effect of experi- 
ence in such voyages alone that, while a certain class of 
dangers gets more despised, and boldness increases as to 
one class of difficulties, another kind of possibilities be- 
comes more realized as truly formidable, which, at first 
starting on such cruises, would never be thought of at all. 
However, after all the moralizing about the morass had 
been done, it came to this in the end : that there was ver}^ 
good reason for not trjnng to pass through Hooleh marsh, 
and that there was much better reason for a determined 
effort to do it now. ISText day, therefore, with Hany, I 
made a reconnaissance from our head -quarters by the 
mound at Dan, that we might find the best way, or any 
way, by which to carry the Eob Eoy into the soft green 
plain. He was quite as anxious as myself to do this well, 
and up to a certain point of perseverance a good Eastern 
dragoman is as resolute as any Englishman. Where the 
Orientals break down (as seems to me) is when the difficul- 
ty is an unknown one, and has to be overcome in a way 
entirely new. It is just then that is wanted the Saxon's 
positive resolve, " It shall be done." And this was needed 
now. To take a horse down these rough rocks was eas}^ 
To steer a mule, even a laden one, among the bogs and 
gushing streamlets, and through hedges and reeds and 
thickets, could be done by bearing bumps and bruises 
and duckings in the mud. But we had to find a way for 
a tender cargo to be carried here — the ever-precious Eob 
Eoy ; and this, so strong in waves and rapids, might be 
smashed by a single fall of the horse, and then the journey 
could not be begun again without long delay, or, at best, 
would be continued with the enfeebling sensation of pad- 
dling over a new and rapid river in a crippled boat. ISTev- 
ertheless, we found a way here even in this winter season, 



240 



MANSOURA. 



and with all the ground flooded by recent rain ; and we 
settled upon a house, the last on the plain, where the Rob 
Roy might lodge the first night, and there we bespoke for 
her the best bedroom in a buffaloes' byre, the landlord, 
no doubt, being puzzled out of his wits when he was 
gravely told that next day would come a " shaktoor." 
And come it did, on January 4th, all safe, to Mansoura, 
after far less struggling than was expected, and no hurt. 

This place is at a clump of trees seen from Tell el Kady. 
Two stone houses are by a little mound, and, so far as I 
could make out, this is the ground of the Difne Arabs, 
evidently connected by name with the ancient Daphne, the 
longer way of saying Dan. What in such sparsely peo- 
pled places may be called a crowd was waiting to receive 
us, and indeed they were a rough-looking set, but civil 
enough, and strongly reverencing my double-barrel while 
they worshipped the canoe. 

So great was the pressure about me that it was very dif- 
ficult to take compass-bearings here, but it was far more 
difficult to obtain from the numerous Arabs peering at us 
any one name of the villages in front — the clumps, I mean, 
of straw-mat huts, and Arab tents, and every cross-breed 
compromise between the animal and vegetable orders of 
architecture. 

First, it was scarcely possible to point out any of the 
knobs on the horizon, so that any two men beside me 
should agree upon what they were asked to look at. Then 
their arguments about the matter had to be filtered through 
faithful Hany's rendering of the case. Next the names 
had to be marked in pencil on my plan, and lastly the 
whole list was found to be wrong. 

This was the usual routine, and it happened so many 
times, and after long periods of rest had been given to cool 
down the conflicting geographers, and to allow some consen- 
sus of their versions to be precipitated for use, that I was 
driven to the reluctant conclusion, first, that the places had 
no names, and, second, that none of the men knew the 
places. As this never happened thus before to me, and as 



PARLIAMENT. 



241 



it must have been caused by one or other of these reasons, 
I feel pretty sure that the maps of Hooleh will never agree 
if we take the names from what the people tell us, and that 
the time is come for some inventive tourist to christen all 
the localities himself 

After a stormy session of this parliament in the grove 
of Daphne,^ I peremptorily silenced all the self-elected 
speakers, except a fine clear-eyed fellow, who seemed to 
be the least garrulous and the most knowing man among 
them ; and having overruled in my favor all points of or- 
der, I noted down this man's version of the Hooleh Domes- 
day-book as a comment in explanation of a careful sketch 
made previously from a point five hundred feet above the 
plain. From this the few names are given in Map Y., 
and, perhaps, they are as likely to be right as any other 
list.. 

The following catechism will show what had to be di- 
gested into knowledge fit to record in a map, and in the 
colloquy Q. is the English inquirer, and A. is the answer- 
in 2; Arab. 

Q. You see that little group of huts near the big tree ? 
A. Yes, where the water flows quiet ; that is Absees. 
Q. And the next huts to the left ? 

A. Tell el Schady. By the Prophet ! it's a fishing- 
station. Great for fishing is the Ingleez ; but this is in 
the reeds (" rab "). 

(Yoice in the crowd): " 'Dowana' is the name." 

Q. What name did you say last ? 

(Yoice) : " Zahmouda " ■ — (which voice, after much 
wrangle, turns out to be not the same that spoke first). 
Q. Which is Zahmouda? 

(Three people point in three directions, and instantly be- 
gin a subsidiary debate.) 

* Another Daphne, near Antioch, is mentioned by Josephus, and in 2 
Maccabees iv. 3. The Dufneh Arabs are to the west of Mansoura, and the 
village is marked on Map V. Schwartz (p, 47) places "Dafne" at Berim, 
or Eiblah. I observe that almost every writer of travels here has a Daphne 
of his own. 

Q 



242 



COSTUMES. 



Q. Look along mj ramrod. Now, what's the name of 
the hamlet it points to ? 
A. Dowana. 

Q. Whj, it's what you said was Absees ? 
A. El Aksees the Howaja sees to the right of Zah- 
mouda. 

Q. But where is Zahmouda ? 

(First voice, and a general chorus — the second voice be- 
ing stifled by cuffs) : " Next to Tell el Schady." 

Then, with rough eagerness, the strongest of the Dow- 
ana faction pushes his long forefinger forward, pointing 
straight enough — but whither ? and with a volley of words 
ends " Ah — ah— a — a — a a — a." 

This strange expression had long before puzzled me 
when first heard from a shepherd in Bashan. I thought 
the man was a stammerer, then that he was laughing at 
me, then that he was crazy himself But the simple mean- 
ing of this long string of " ah's " shortened and quickened, 
and lowered in tone to the end, is merely that the place 
pointed to is a " very great way off." Nor is the plan a 
bad one for giving by words a long perspective distance to 
the place we are pointing out. 

The festival ending Eamadan happened to fall at this 
time, so that all the people were idle, joyous, and boister- 
ous in their fashion, and they had donned their gaudiest 
finery. A procession of children came over the marsh 
with guns and flags, green boughs, long sticks, and music 
of tom-toms and singing. "When they saw the Rob Roy 
on horseback, the ranks burst into disorder, and rushed to 
our group with wild shouts. They believed (said they) 
that the canoe had come to honor their holiday show. 
Each one in turn came up to see my pith helmet, and the 
older men to gaze on my compass. Their dress was the 
most various possible, long and short, colored and plain, 
scanty and ample, of camel's hair of Damascus, silk of 
Lebanon, and Manchester cotton. All the women had 
their faces stained with blue patterns. Most of the men 
were tattooed, and some not merely punctured, but gashed 



NOSE-RINGS. 



243 



hideously in diagrams on their cheeks. A good deal of 
jewelry was displayed. Many of the men wore earrings. 
Nose-rings were the fashion among the young. Heavy 
dirty coins (kesh) chained together hung from their hair 
and rattled on their cheeks. One had this chain of money 
linked at one end to the ear, and at another to the nose. 




THKEE HOOLEH UEADS. 



The moment I tried to sketch any of these, the happy 
subject of the pencil became at once grave, important, and 
stiff, putting on his " best looks," and (as generally in such 
cases) looking the most unlike himself These portraits 
were bespoken and eagerly received as presents, and so I 
secured only three for my album, which are given above. 
One of these dandies thus sketched had a head-dress with 
fur woven into his hair, and two long side-locks pendent, 
and another was the likeness of a mischievous little scamp, 
very unlikely to be regular at his ragged-school, with three 
tails on his head, and, plainly, by his manners, a sprig of 



2U 



WATERWAYS. 



nobility, or, it may be, a prince from a mud palace near, 
and, at any rate, privileged in general as a " flibbertigib- 
bet." The tliird portrait represents the young fashionable 
with the chain from nose to chin. I thought that the 
wearer was a girl, and even then this ornament would be 
wonderful enough, though what finery can be too extrava- 
gant for feminine coquetry? But my sketch-book shows 
that the wearer of the parure was a man ; nor is this war- 
rior of Hooleh the only man who, with a string of coins, 
can be " led by the nose." 

The name of this village, Mansoura, means delight," 
and there are many other places called by this name, be- 
sides the large town in the Delta already described in our 

Fine oak-trees shade the green tell here ; south of it is 
the cow-house, where we docked the Kob Eoy for a night, 
and a corn-mill turned by a noisy sluice of water. It 
will be seen by Map Y. that the river on the east is the 
Banias,'^ which has wandered down here from the cave of 
Pan, while behind and around the tell are several streams 
complicated in their relations, but on a higher level than 
the Banias, and apparently not always here uniting with 
that river ; at all events, not when we saw them. These 
upper streamlets are parts of the Leddan, which has broken 
its channel into many pools and brooks, soon after leaving 
the source at Dan," and is then dispersed by canalettes over 
fields, and absorbed by marsh-land, from which the waters 
again debouch, unite, and branch out once more at half a 
mile from Tell el Kady. One arm of this, I was told, 
reaches to the Hasbany Kiver, but, if so, it is a mere brook. 
It may be safely said that the Leddan spreads generally 
into Hooleh plain, but to follow up this network of water- 

*I can not understand what Dr. Thomson says ("The Land and the 
Book," Aol. i, p. 388), that, starting frora Mansoura, and "crossing the 
Baniasy at Sheikh Hazeib, we came to the main branch of the Leddan, and 
in ten minutes more to another branch with the name of Buraij. Half a 
mile from this all the streams nnite with the Hasbany, a little north of Sheikh 
Yusuf, a large tell on the very edge of the marsh. " 



BEIGHT EYES. 



245 



ways on foot was not easy, for I found them often too 
broad to leap on foot, and their banks were too treacher- 
ous to ride- over. The exact geography could be better 
deciphered in summer, but fever, ague, and plenty of other 
ills would be, of course, rampant then upon the marsh. 

The crowd under the oaks had increased in number as 
I returned from the rough survey of their amphibious ter- 
ritory. In a large semicircle they stood at the open door 
of the house until the buffaloes were expelled, protesting 
in loud bellows and angrily rushing through the mud. 

Our host was a dull, sad, and silent man. He had come 
to the place a year before. Four of his children had been 
slaughtered in the massacre — for he was a Christian — and 
the only one left was a little girl of ten years old. She 
was most beautiful in face and figure, and with a happy, 
angelic look, very winning to Tegard. Her gentle kind- 
ness to her father, her graceful alacrity in the household 
bustle of preparing for a howaja, her dignified restraint of 
the rude urchins about us delighted me exceedingly. With 
tears the fond father held out her little right hand to show 
me how it was gashed and worthless for needlework, and 
shook his head, sorrowfully weeping, and sympathy water- 
ed in my eyes. 

He seemed too down-hearted and woe-begone to feel the 
panting thirst of hot revenge for this Moslem's outrage, and 
in lack of other consolation he lighted his chibouque. I 
gave the pretty child a " British Workman " with its cheer- 
ful pictures, and an English knife and other presents. 
Then, to get peace, we- closed the few boards called a door, 
and which admitted plenty of light, though there was no 
window. Eor company's sake the man stopped the hours 
of evening by me. My converse with him was by few 
signs and fewer words, though they were all I knew of 
Arabic ; but even these cheered him, for my hand pointed 
him upward, and he knew the meaning when that signal 
came from a "Nussarene." A heap of corn was in the 
room, and a steelyard to weigh it, and some ox-yokes. 
Not a single article of furniture was there but the one 



246. 



ENTER ARABS. 



straw mat on which I stretched out to sleep, with my boat- 
bag for a pillow. 

Loud kickings at the door soon knocked in its feeble 
fastening, and a dozen Arabs entered. They had come to 
buy gunpowder from the Christian miller. After much 
bargaining he pulled out the old canvas sack I had been 
leaning upon for hours, and wherein was the gunpowder 
perfectly loose, and we had been smoking too, and now a 
man came in with a nargilleh (water-pipe). The powder 
was weighed in handfuls. Each of the Arabs flashed a 
pinch of it in his rusty gun, and then blew down its mouth. 
Some put their powder in bits of paper in their belts, others 
carried it quite free in a goat-skin bag, others in their 
pockets, with a dozen more things. Each man wrangled 
all the time of weighing his portion, and he always got a 
spoonful more thrown in extra to quiet his murmurings. 
They all departed at last, and we were at peace. But they 
all returned with loud imperious mien to say " their change 
was wrong." M}^ wearied host onh^ sighed and gave half- 
farthings round, and I did not wish to see any one of tlio 
miller's customers again, but to-morrow will tell about that. 
The cats scampered over me all night; no doubt they 
smelt the large pudding in my bag. In dreamy strugglei? 
to explain how the eyes of cats will glance bright like 
diamonds through black darkness, sleep seized and over- 
came. 



KIVER BANIAS. 



247 



CHAPTER XY. 

River Banias. — Strange Rock. — Afloat alone. — Riding. — ""Waltzing." — 
Meeting of the Waters, — Pui-sued. — At bay. — Fired at. — Caught. — Cap- 
tive's Appeal — Carried to Captivity. — Before the Court. — Sentence. — 
Taunts. — Revenge. — Escape. 

" Deft little lassie, good-morning ! Your bright eyes, 
how they sparkle ! your neat and modest dress, how tidy ! 
One only spared of his children, and a darling to your fa- 
ther — fair Christian maid, good-bye!" Now mount the 
Rob Roy, and be careful, Latoof and Adoor. 

We were taking the canoe as far as possible on horse- 
back straight over the plain to save the time of floating 
her on the crooked river, and so gain a fine long daylight 
for the voyage itself The Banias takes long bends here, 
keeping well eastward to our left, and at intervals I rode 
to its banks to inspect them. Near Mansoura it passes a 
most curious obstacle, an oblong level rock, probably — 
certainly, so far as I saw — the last rock in the plain. This 
projects from the west bank, due eastward. It is rectangu- 
lar in shape, about six feet thick, and three feet out of the 
water. Against this barrier the river runs full tilt, and 
foams back, turning on itself as if in anger. The swift cur- 
rent sways to the left, and rushes quite round the end of 
the rock in a narrow passage which must have rock on 
its other side too, else it would soon sweep out a broad bay 
in the bank. I never saw a rock so placed in a river, and 
therefore I made the following sketch of it. 

The banks of the Banias are otherwise uninteresting 
here, and about six feet high along the plain. Shrubs 
line them at intervals, but they are mostly bare and gravel- 
ly. Buffaloes and horses browse on the luscious green 
grass. All the horses appear to be of one color, for they 
are thickly coated with mud. Clover, I am sure, would 



248 



STRANGE ROCK. 




readily grow on their backs. As for 
thebufialoes — the "bulls of Bashan" 
— their favorite pastime is to stand, 
with outstretched gaping head, just 
up to their stomachs in slush. A 
herdsman was out thus early to drive 
this mixed flock somewhere. He 
rode a splendid Arab without sad- 
dle or bridle, and perfectly naked 
himself With a long stick he dealt 
heavy blows on the horses before 
him, and heavier upon the buffaloes. 
All these plunged and scampered, 
and squealed, bellowed, and kicked, stka>'ge eock ij. the joedan. 
with their tails in the air, a loud wild orgie of savage ani- 
mal life. 

The few hamlets in the marsh are curiously various in 
their architecture. After the stone house and flat roof we 
had left, there is the mud wall with a round hump-backed 
top of reed matting. Others have side mats for walls, and 
the roof shaped like a pulpit cushion, of which the tassels 
at the corner are heavy stones tied by straw ropes to keep 
the light covers on; black Arab tents succeed, and with 
woven reeds at the sides, and then the long tent pure and 
simple : all the varieties, in fact, of tent and thatch, and 
mud and mat, combined. The sketch at p. 264 will show 
these "Beit Shahr," the reed demesnes of Hooleh. 

We joined the Banias Eiver where it runs between the 
houses of Aksees, or Absees, or Abseeyieh, as it was called 
by each of my instructors yesterday. The stream was about 
one hundred feet wide for a little, but narrowing and ex- 
panding at every turn. The water was turbid and in flood, 
whirling with eddies, the banks of reddish clay, and thick 
reeds nestled in the bights. Nobody was aroused in the 
village when we noislessly launched the Rob Roy to float 
on the third stream of Jordan, as it had already floated on 
the other two. 

Slowly we numbered each article that had to be stowed 



HIDING. 



249 



away, so as to see that nothing was taken that could pos- 
sibly be left behind (for lightness), and nothing left that 
ought to be taken for safety. Hany was now to return 
towards Dan, whence the mules and baggage had already 
gone away, and he was to press on to Mellaha, near the 
end of Hooleh Lake, where he was to wait for me, and by 
relays to watch night and day until I might arrive, " any 
time during the next forty-eight hours." 

It was bright sunshine above us and the river-stream 
looked hearty and strong below, but there was more than 
usual pressure between our hands as the Eob Eoy glided 
off with my dragoman's earnest " God bless joii !" 

Once more alone, the interest and excitement were 
strung up to the highest pitch. It was not like the Atei- 
beh morass, where my tent was on shore, and I had only 
to get back to it. Here, on the Jordan, the stream was far 
too powerful to think of returning against it ; and where, 
indeed, could I come back to ? 

The interest arose from the hope of discovering the real 
course of the Jordan. 

Suppose we had ten miles of the Thames still uncertain 
in our maps, would it not be a reproach to English boat- 
men ? But Jordan was an old river before the Thames was 
heard of, and the Thames will be forgotten when Jordan 
will be remembered forever. What an honor, then, for the 
Kob Eoy to trace even one new bend of this ancient river ! 

As the Hooleh Arabs seemed to be an ill-looking set, 
and had but a poor certificate of character from the tales 
of travellers, I tried to slip by them unperceived under the 
high banks, and this was the first place in my voyages 
where the natives were to be eluded. 

On the Abana the difficult parts for the canoe were in 
deep rocky defiles, where no man, friend or foe, could come 
along the banks; but here, on Jordan, the banks were 
level and open to the prowling robbers. Moreover, I was 
to meet them, if at all, without the constraining pomp and 
presence of a retinue, and once captured, I would be law- 
ful prize for a ransom. 



250 



" WALTZING." 



No one caught sight of the canoe as she stole past the 
mat houses of Absees under a few palm-trees. Then the 
river wound very crookedly, but with steep banks and 
jungle concealing me. The bends were so angular and 
the current so swift that in the turns it was utterly impos- 
sible not to run into the thick overhanging canes. Then 
it was I invented a new way of getting round sharp serpen- 
tine cornerSj and which I beg to commend very warmly to 
canoeists. 

The diagram will show this manoeuvre. We are sup- 
posed to be speeding fast round a bend shaped like the let- 
ter S, and this is the way to manage it: 

Eun the bows of the canoe gently into the left bank at 
the first angle, and let the stern be swung hy the current 
until you can back into the right bank of the next angle, 
and run the stern in there. Let the current again swing 
the bow until you can paddle ahead in freedom, and so es- 

Itwill be found that 
the eddies are all in 
favor of this plan, and 
the jungle in the bends 
is an aid rather than 
hindrance; but the op- 
eration requires quiet 
attention and good 
balancing, especially 
when steering back 
foremost ; and a good 
look-out must be kept, 
lest in the narrow parts 
of the stream both bow and stern might be caught at once, 
when an upset would be a moral certainty. 

This new pas in the canoe I called " waltzing," the Eob 
Eoy being my fair partner ; and as we were whirling about 
in this dance without music, I saw a head gazing over the 
reeds in amazement. His eyes opened large, up went his 
hands, and he disappeared with a yell. Soon I heard 



cape from the double bend. 




" WALTZING." 



MEETING OF THE WATERS. 



251 



Others shouting, and soon — too soon — they all ran near to 
see. In a moment I noticed how very different they were 
in manner from any other spectators that so often had run 
alongside me in Europe and America. They were dancing 
in frantic excitement and shouting ferociously. The 
bounding current bore me along too fast for their running, 
but while I had to go round the long bends, they crossed 
by shorter routes, and saluted my approach with a volley 
of clods. All these fell harmless, and at the next bend the 
Hasbany Eiver ran into the Banias ; so the men were left 
at the point of junction, high on the steep bank, screaming 
until I disappeared. 

The Hasbany joins the Banias in . a proper orthodox 
way, each river yielding its tribute quietly to the united 
whole, and now for the first time is formed the veritable 
Jordan. Yandevelde marks this spot near Tell Sheikh 
Yusuf, " the .Mount of the lord Joseph and he is quite 
right, for there was the green hill close by the shore, the 
junction of the geographical and the historic streams of 
Jordan, the wedding of the line of largest waters with the 
line of largest fame.f Here I intended to land and take 
bearings, but the banks were perfectly steep. However, 
in the middle there was a beautiful island of small round 
black gravel, and I ran the boat on that and got out to 

* On the eastern hills is shown the place where Joseph was sold to the 
Midianites. 

t Robinson rode (with Thomson) from Tell el Kady to Sheikh Yusuf in 
an hour and forty minutes ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 388). 
Josephus says : " Now Jordan's visible stream arises from this cavern (Pani- 
um), and divides the marshes and fens of the Lake Semechonitis : when it 
hath run another hundred and seventy furlongs" ("Jewish War," book iii. 
eh. X. sec. vii,). The distance he mentions Avouldbe about fourteen English 
m.iles. But the position of Tell Sheikh Yusuf is settled by the observations 
of Captain Wilson, R.E., and Lieutenant Anderson, E.E., Avhose survey 
reached to this spot, and from these the tell is marked in our map, as well as 
Mansoura, Banias, and Jisr Ghujar, fixed in relation to Tell Haroweh (on 
the south-west of Map V.), Avhere was an astronomical station. Thus far 
the features of the district of Hooleh are now published for the first time 
from proper data, and it will be seen that all previous maps are Avrong. 
The details of Map V., and the whole of Map VI., are from my own 
observation. 



252 



PURSUED. 



rest, to collect my thouglits as to the new complexion 
things bad taken, to prepare my pistol, and settle whether 
it was better to lie concealed for an hour, or to push on 
swiftly and try to outrun the wave of excitement which 
had evidently arisen, and would quickly propagate itself 
among the Arabs in the fields. Each of the rivers here 
seems to be about seventy feet wide, and seven or eight feet 
deep. The waters of both were pale brown in color, and 
their united stream was about a hundred feet broad. 

Launching again on the river, the current bore us on 
delightfully. The banks were from twelve to twenty feet 
high and quite vertical, with grass upon the top. Two 
buffaloes looked at me over this, and soon their driver too. 
I gave him a most polite " salaam !" but he stared as if he 
saw a ghost — and a most terrible ghost, too — then he ran 
away hallooing. 

With all my might I pressed on now, but soon heard 
the men behind me. In a straight reach, and with a good 
current like this, they could not keep up with the canoe."^ 
But here these pursuers cut across the bends on shore, 
and so they overtook me in ten. Minutes. Then a dozen 
of them were running high above, and they speedily in- 
creased to fifty — men, women, and children. 

It was of no use now to paddle fast, but better to reserve 
my strength and keep cool for what might come. Sudden- 
ly every one of them disappeared, but I knew I must meet 
them all round the next corner. There they were, scream- 
ing, with that wild hoarseness only the Arab can attain, 
"Al burra! al burra!" (To land! to land!) That was 
the chorus, and a royal salute of missiles splashed in the 
water. I bowed to them quietly, and answered " Ingleez ;" 
but they ran still with me in a tumultuous rabble, and see- 
ing some of them give their scanty garments to the others, 
I knew what would follow; about half a dozen jumped 
into the water 

They swam splendidly, and always with right and left 

* In the last "long race" of oiu' Canoe Club, the Avinner's canoe accom- 
plished 12 miles in 85 minutes. 



AT BAY. 



253 



h:\nd alternately in front; but of course I distanced the 
swimmers, who murmured deep, while the others shouted 
and laughed. Then the naked ones got out and ran along 
the bank again, and all disappeared as before for another 
attack. 

It was a crisis now' ; but as there was no shirking it, the 
Eob Roy whirled round the next point beautifully ; and 
here the river was wide, and the rascals were waiting in the 
water, all in a line across, about a score of them wading to 
their middle. 

For a moment I paused as to what was best to do, and 
every one was silent and stood still. Then I quietly float- 
ed near one of the swimmers, splashed him in the face with 
my paddle, and instantly escaped through the interval with 
a few vigorous strokes, while a shout of general applause 
came from the bank ; and they all ran on except one, who 
took a magnificent " header " into the river, and came up 
exactly by the stern of the Rob Roy, with his arm over 
her deck. But my paddle was under his arm in an in- 
stant, and I gently levered him off, saying, in my softest 
accents, " Katerhayrac !" (thanks!), as if he had been 
rendering a service. The shout renewed, and the best of 
them all retired discomfited. 

At this time we must have been quite near the village 
of Salhyeh (a name I can never forget), and the number of 
people on the banks was now at the least a hundred. 
Many of them had ox-goads, some had spears, the rest had 
the long clubs with huge round knobs at the end peculiar 
to that northern district. Another shower of missiles 
came, yet, strange to . say, not one hit the boat. There rose 
the cry, " Baroda ! baroda !" (the gun ! the gun !). 

I let my boat float quietly that the excitement might 
cool down, and, looking at the mob quite close, I saw sev- 
eral point their long guns at me ; one kneeled to do so, 
yet none of them at first seemed really in earnest to shoot. 

But soon on a little point in front I noticed a man post- • 
ed methodically for a purpose. He trimmed his priming, 
he cocked his hammer, and, as I came straight up to him. 



254 



FIRED AT. 



every other person stopped to look, and not a voice was 
heard. 

I could not escape this man, and he knew that well. 
Up went his gun to his shoulder : he was cool, and so was 
I. The muzzle was not twenty feet from my face. Three 
thoughts coursed through my brain : " Will hit me in the 
mouth ; bad to lie wounded here." "Aimed from his left 
shoulder; how convenient to shoot on both sides !" " No 
use 'bobbing' here— first time under fire — Arabs re- 
spect courage." The clear round black of the muzzle end 
followed me covering as I passed. I stared right at the 
man's eyes, and gave one powerful stroke; at the same 
moment he fired — fiz, bang! and a splash of the bullet in 
the water behind me. Loud shouts came out of the smoke. 
I stopped, and said, " Xot fair to use a gun !" In an in- 
stant the water was full of naked swimmers straining to- 
wards me. It was shallow here, and in vain I tried hard 
to avoid them. Suddenly mj canoe was wrenched down 
behind. It was the same black giant I had elbowed off be- 
fore; but now he came furiously, brandishing the white 
shank-bone of a buffalo. I warded off that with my pad- 
dle, but another had got hold of the boat's bow. I was 
captured now, and must resort, to tactics. The crowd yell- 
ed louder in triumph, but I motioned my captors to take 
the boat to the opposite shore. The man cried " Bak- 
shish !" — a word I had somehow heard before ! I said, 
"Yes; but to the sheikh." The villain answered, "/am 
the sheikh ;" but I knew he was not. His face was black, 
his cheeks were deeply gashed and tattooed ; he had one 
big earring. His topknot stood erect, and the water glisten- 
ed on his huge naked carcass as he roughly grasped my 
delicate little paddle. My pistol lay between my knees 
full-cocked, and my hand stole down to it. Better thoughts 
came instantly. "Why should I shoot this poor savage? 
it will not free me. Even if it does, it would be liberty 
bought by blood." Still I parleyed with the man till he 
softened down. I pointed to his bone weapon, and said 
it was not fair to use it. He pointed to my paddle, and 



captive's appeal. 



255 



said that was not fair. Poor fellow ! I felt for him ; his 
vanity had been wounded by discomfiture before. Soon 
we became good friends, chiefly by my quiet smiles and 
patting his wet shaven pate. 

I kept him yet on the far side of the river, that the oth- 
ers might sober a little, for the Arabs quiet into calm as 
suddenly as they flash into rage. All the village was out 
now on the banks, and many swam over to the Eob Roy. 




OAPTTTRE. 



I formally appointed my captor as my protector, and he 
became proud instead of angry. Little as I knew of the 
language, I could make him understand my meaning, and 
he did understand — nay, there is scarcely any idea of facts 
that you can not make intelligible without words if you 
are at once calm and in earnest.* Then we crossed — he 
swimming and holding on with excruciating twists to the 

* It is quite another matter to understand them. They speak as if you 
knew their language— you gesticulate as if they don't know yours. 



256 



CARRIED TO CAPTIVITY. 



poor prisoned Rob Roy. How frantic the people were ! 
Some of them in the crowd tumbled over into the water. 
They did not mind that a bit. I commanded silence, and 
all obeyed. Then was pronounced this most eloquent 
oration. I said, "I am English." They replied, " Sowa, 
sowa" (friends), and then rubbed their two forefingers to- 
gether, the usual sign of amity. I said it was not fair to 
use the "baroda" (gun). Holding up one finger, I gaid, 
"Ingleez wahed " (one Englishman), then holding up both 
hands, I said, " Araby kooloo " (all the rest Arabs). At 
this the crowd applauded, laughing, and so did I. A little 
girl now took up a huge lump of red earth, and from the 
bank, about eight feet above me, she hurled it down with 
violence upon the canoe. This was a crisis, and the time 
to be perfectl}^ calm. If the quick spirit had seized them 
then, the boat would have been smashed to pieces in three 
seconds. Turning, therefore, slowly round I pointed to the 
horrid mess the mud had made on the clean white water- 
proof of the canoe, and looked up in the faces of them all 
with a pleasant but beseeching air. It was a turning-point 
this. They looked at one another for a moment silently, 
and then, as by a general impulse, thej' rushed at the hap- 
less girl, and as the whole mob of them disappeared over 
the bank, I heard her screams and the thumps of discipline 
that caused them. In the confusion caused by this ab- 
sence I had almost escaped once more, when they angrily 
captured me again. But they could not persuade me to 
get out of the boat, and for this reason : my pistol was 
still open and at full cock lying on the floor-boards of the 
canoe. If I got out, they would see it, and surely would 
scramble for the prize. Every time I put my hand inside 
to stow the pistol away out of sight, they tried to wrench 
my paddle from the other hand. One hand was, therefore, 
needed for the paddle, but the other could not be spared 
from its duty of patting their wet greasy heads, which af- 
fectionate caress seemed to be an unwonted but most suc- 
c^^sful mode of propitiation. 

The water mob of swimmers closed nearer and waxed 



BEFORE THE COURT. 



257 



larger as more crossed the river. Their curiosity was 
boundless, and every hand tried to undo my apron or to 
get somehow under the deck. Their patience was on the 
ebb, and while I considered what to do next, I felt the 
Bob Roy heaving this way and that, and then gradually, and 
despite all my smiling but earnest remonstrance, the canoe 
began to rise out of the water with all her crew inside. 
Loud shouts welcomed her ascent up the bank as a dozen 
dark-skinned bearers lifted the canoe and her captain, sit- 
ting inside, with all due dignity graciously smiling, and so 
they carried her fairly up the steep bank and over the 
smooth sward some hundred yards towards the tent of 
their Arab sheikh. 

See this strange progress depicted in the frontispiece of 
our volume, and it may safely be said that no prisoner 
before was ever thus taken into custody. 

But it was an anxious journey this from river to tent. 
The men were rough and boisterous. The boat heeled 
and plunged as if in a terrible sea. I clasped the two 
nearest bearers round their necks to steady these surgings. 
Then they let the boat down while I clung to their clam- 
my cheeks and swarthy shoulders, and I had soon to loose 
hold of these and descend to the ground with the Rob Roy, 
for I would never desert her. Up aloft again ! and laugh- 
ing and shouting we waddled along, while the crowd was 
denser than ever, until the sheikh came slowly to meet ns 
with a few of his ancient councillors. 

I insisted that the canoe should be placed in his tent. 
After much resistance he suddenly allowed it, and then I 
got out. But what to do next? The first thing to recol- 
lect in this sort of adventure is that time is of no conse- 
quence to such people, but that stage effect and dignity 
are very important to your case. Therefore I made long 
preliminaries, and had every person ordered out of the 
tent. The crowd obeyed, after some had been beaten with 
sticks to convince them. The sheikh seemed puzzled at 
the whole affair. I looked at him carefully, and saw he 
was a second-rate man without much decision in his mien, 

E 



258 



SENTENCE. 



and one who would, on the whole, like events to happen 
under other orders than his own. 

Having now a fair stage scene around the central figures, 
I came forward slowly, hat in hand, and bowed to thesheikli 
very low, and shook hands with him heartily, and told him 
I was a wandering Briton on my way to the lake, and I 
would rest at his tent until the sun was cooler. 

The crowd was attentive and silent. Men in the rear 
beat off the boys, and the women went behind the tent and 
peered through the matting, so that a whole regiment of 
feminine noses was ranged over the little Eob Eoy, now 
reclining safe on a carpet. The sheikh retired to consult 
with his cabinet. I asked for two men to keep order, and 
he gave them, and desperately tyrannical they were upon 
the mob. After an hour, about mid-day, the chief and his 
ministry came back, and ordered "silence," and said, "You 
can not go to the lake." I said, "I musty He answered 
it was "impossible." I said I must go to see that He 
gave me the very smallest wink that could be given by a 
man's eye, and I answered by one a little smaller. Then I 
knew he could be convinced — i. e., bribed, and so finally, at 
any rate, I would have my own way. / 

The tent was cleared again. About twenty women 
came forward in a group, and the sheikh's wife, quite re- 
fined in manner and very intelligent. I behaved to her 
as if she were an English lady. She was lost in amaze- 
ment when I exhibited my little bed, my lamp, compass, 
and cuisine. She looked with kind and feminine interest 
upon me when I said I was losing all the fine sunshine of 
th.e day, a prisoner alone among strangers. She fetched 
her husband by himself, and, under cover of showing him 
the inside of the canoe, I managed to let him see a gold na- 
poleon in my open hand, and with a nudge to his elbow 
for emphasis to the sight. He whispered, " Shwei, shwei " 
(softly, quietly). I knew I had bought him then. The 
" council of ancients " came with their final decision, " You 
can not go to-day, but must have a horse to-morrow. 
There are reeds (rab) quite impassable." I explained how 



TAUNTS. 



259 



the canoe went through reeds in the lake of Hijaneh. 
" Yes," they answered, " but there is water in Hijaneh, now 
here the reeds are so," and they placed a sort of hedge of 
sticks at the bow of my canoe to explain. 

I then began to amuse them by making sketches of men 
and horses, next I gave a lesson in geography by placing 
nut-shells at various points to represent " Sham " (Damas- 
cus), Musr (Cairo), El Khuds (Jerusalem), and Bahr (the 
lake of Hooleh), and at last placed one little shell at the 
extreme end of the tent to represent England so far away. 
They exclaimed loudly in astonishment at my long jour- 
ney to see them. At intervals several of these men kept 
boring me for "bakshish." One was an old deaf cunning 
fellow, who whispered the word in my ear. Another, a 
sharp lad, who said he had seen the " Ingleez " at Beyrout, 
spoke incessantly to me by signs only, and he did it admi- 
rably. I was much interested in the clever variations of 
his noiseless pictures, always culminating in the same sub- 
ject, "bakshish." A third applicant used no such delicate 
coyness in the matter, but merely roared out the hateful 
word before all, and louder every time. 

ISTo one had as yet offered me any food. This gross 
neglect (never without meaning among the Arabs) I de- 
termined now to expose, and so to test their real intentions. 
My cuisine was soon rigged up for cooking, and I asked 
for cold water. In two minutes afterwards the brave lit- 
tle lamp was steaming away at high pressure with its mer- 
ry hissing sound. Every one came to see this. I cut thin 
slices of the preserved beef soup, and, while they were 
boiling, I opened my salt-cellar. This is a snuff-box, and 
from it I offered a pinch to the sheikh. He had never be- 
fore seen salt so white, and therefore, thinking it was su- 
gar, he willingly took some from my hand and put it to 
his tongue. Instantly I ate up the rest of the salt, and 
with a loud, laughing shout, I administered to the aston- 
ished outwitted sheikh a manifest thump on the back. 
"What is it?" all asked from him. "Is it sukker?" He 
answered demurely, "La! meleh !" (No, it's salt!) Even 



260 



REVENGE. 



his home secretary laughed at his chief. We had now 
eaten salt together, and in his own tent, and so he was 
bound by the strongest tie, and he knew it. 

The soup was now ready and boiling hot. They all ex- 
amined my little metal spoon, and my carving-knife went 
round (it never came back). I gave every one of them 
seated in a circle about me one spoonful of the boiling 
soup, which, of course, scalded each man's mouth, and 
made him wince bitterly, yet without telling the next vic- 
tim. Now they had all partaken of food with their pris- 
oner. How much they relished it, I don't know. All 
went out, and I took this opportunity to stand near the 
sheikh, and try to slip the napoleon into his hand. He 
was quite uncertain what to do when the gold tickled his 
palm. It was utterly against their code of chief and peo- 
ple for him to take this secret personal gift from a stranger, 
yet he could not resist the temptation. His hand pushed 
mine away, but with a very gentle indignation. Soon his 
fingers played among mine as the yellow coin kept turn- 
ing about, half held by each of us, unseen behind our backs. 
Two of the sheikh's fingers were pushing it away, but 
then the other three fingers were pulling it in. Finally I 
felt the coin had left me, and I knew now the sheikh was 
not only bought but paid for. Down went his counte- 
nance from that moment, and he slunk away abashed. An 
hour more of palaver was spent by the seniors, during 
which time I ate my luncheon heartily and read the 
" Times." Then all came back once more except the chief, 
and the women were rustling behind the mat screens, and 
a great bustle seemed to say that the verdict was agreed 
upon. The "foreman" briefly told it — "You are to go to- 
morrow." 

This will never do — but how to reverse the sentence ? 
I was seated on the ground at the time, and I rose very 
slowly and gravely, until, standing on a little eminence in 
the tent, and drawing myself up besides as tall as could 
be, and stretching up my hand as high as possible (and 
utterly undetermined what I was going to say, and exceed- 



ESCAPE. 



261 



ingly tempted to burst into laughter), I exclaimed with my 
loudest voice only three words, Bokra ? — La ! — Ingleez ! 
(To-morrow ? — No ! — I am English !), and then the orator 
sunk calmly down and went on reading his paper again. 
In five minutes more a man came to say I might leave at 
once. But I was not to be shoved off in this waj^, so I in- 
sisted that they must carry my canoe back to the river. 
The procession, therefore, formed again, with the Eob Eoy 
in the centre, and her captain walking behind, while boys 
and girls, and especially the people who had not already 
seen her on the water, all rushed in a crowd to the bank 
with the same hoarse shouts they had given before, and 
which we were now more accustomed to hear. All parties 
pledged their friendship in deep " salaams " of adieu, and 
we paddled off, rejoicing. 



262 



CHASE KESUMED. 



CHAPTER XYL 

Chase resumed. — A Kascal. — The River, — Buffaloes. — Snakes. — The Bar- 
rier. — How to eat. — Prison Fare. — The Rascal again, — Voice of the 
Night, — Hurrah, — Riding high-horse, — Eree. — Duty. — Cheap. 

But once out of sight of the huts, and when I had just 
begun a little song of lonely triumph, the crowd came run- 
ning in pursuit, calling for " bakshish," and very urgent too. 
I chose out four men of the company, and promised to pay 
them as a body-guard. In a moment they emerged from 
their clothes, dashed into the stream, and then ran along 
the opposite bank. This was to keep me to themslves. 

The two parties accompanying me, on different sides of 
the river, and having different objects, soon quarrelled. 
The four men on the west bank, who were naked and 
could swim the numerous lagoons that now branched 
around the river, called out to me, " Sook 1 sook !" that is 
" Pull ! pull !" so as to make me go faster on, and thus en- 
able them to return before the sun set. They wished to 
earn their payment as soon as they could. The others, 
however, on the east bank, who were delayed by carrying 
their clothes and clubs and ox-goads — some of them also 
being. girls — commanded me to go slower, by an unceasing 
cry of " Awash-awash-awashawash !" (no doubt a continu- 
ous form of "Shweieh." They wished to delay my prog- 
ress and to extract money the while. This disturbance 
was an unlooked-for trouble and difficulty. It prevented 
me from making careful notes of the river's course in this 
interesting part of its channel, unseen by any other travel- 
ler, or, at all events, undescribed. 

It was evident, too, that I was still not free, yet I deter- 
mined to press on, resolved, if I could only get rid of the. 
men, I would cheerfully sleep in the wildest part of the 
marsh, trusting for better times to-morrow. 

The men on the east bank were more angry and insolent 



A KASCAL. 



263 



as tlie current ran swifter. Baroda! again was the cry, 
and two of them pointed their guns at me as before. 

One of these men, whose weapon was as tall as himself, 
did this at least twenty times in succession, and always called 
out " Bakshish I" while he brought up his gun to his cheek. 

Now my purse was already empty, except of about a 
shilling, and though they wanted my watch I determined 
that at any rate for that my pistol might fairly be used in 
defense, because an Arab who would rob a traveller of his 
watch, would have no scruple about putting " out of the 
way " the only witness against him, who would be certain 
to compel the robber to deliver back the booty through the 
pasha. 

The man's repeated menace and pointing of the gun be- 
came so common a thing that I speedily got used to the 
action, and at last, on one occasion, when the muzzle of 
the long barrel was very close, I moved it aside with my 
paddle.* After this he stopped, and all on his side with him. 
Luckily they had come to w^here a deep lagoon intercepted 
their progress, and with clothes or guns they could not well 
swim across this, so I was now more free to observe the 
river. 

Here it was level wnth the marsh. Much of its volume 
was lost by flooding aside into branches. The main 
branch turned and twisted exceedingly, and was now only 
twenty feet wide at the little group of huts called Zweer,t 

* It is not very difficult to understand how a soldier becomes used to bul- 
lets in the battle. I do not think that courage is either increased or dimin- 
ished by experience, but that it is entirely congenital in kind and degree. 
Daring or boldness may be called forth by frequent use of them with immu- 
nity, or coolness by finding its extreme value, or by desire to sustain reputa- 
tion, or -these may be lessened by experience enforcing caution; but that 
seems to be because experience enables one man to dare more as he finds 
the danger less, and forces another to dare less when he finds that the danger 
is more than he thought at first. A man can learn ivhat to fear most, but 
to fear is born in him. A poodle and a mastifi^ are different even from their 
puppyhood. 

t This is evidently the last dwelling in the marsh. Thomson states that 
he had a list of thirty-two villages in the plain, but they were all movable 
huts, and there was not a "house " in any of them. 



264 



BUFFALOES. 




HOOLEH HUTS. 



out of which another set of men rushed forth, and several 
of them with guns. However, my four nude aides-de-camp 
talked to these neighbors, and they allowed us to go on, 
and half a dozen of the new-comers swam with the others 
and easily kept pace with the boat. 

The swimmers, raised a long sharp cry together, calling 
over and over a word I could not make out, but which 
was evidently meant as a warning. Yamoos ! Yamoos ! 
they shouted, pointing to a dangerous sweep of the stream 
where six or seven large buffaloes were immersed in the 
water, and only their heads appeared, and horns and round 
staring eyes. 

In my first canoe voyage, when the Eob Eoy and the 
" Eothion"* began the river Meuse, we met a large herd of 
bullocks swimming across the stream, and at first sight 
they looked formidable, but it was soon perceived that they 

* This canoe is the Earl of Aberdeen's, and she went for a week with the 
Rob Roy on her voyage to the Danube. The Rothion afterwards crossed 
the English Channel at night (being the first canoe to perform that feat), 
under the management of the late Hon. J. Gordon, one of the best oarsmen, 
best rifle-shots, best canoeists, and best of Christians. 



SNAKES. 



265 



were far more afraid of our canoes than we need be of their 
horns. Still the,se were not wild oxen, and we had allow- 
ed them room to retreat, whereas the buffaloes in the Jor- 
dan were come of a turbulent stock not famed for polite- 
ness, and perhaps now they might decline to give way, or 
they might even attack. 

At any rate, the men were unaccountably careful to keep 
off. I ordered them all to stop perfectly quiet, and then 
the Eob Roy floated gently through the group of horns and 
eyes, and not one of the buffaloes did any thing worse than 
to stare.'^ 

The river forked out now into six different channels. 
The guides disputed as to which was best, but every one 
was hopelessly bad, and with all our care — the men work- 
ing splendidly to help me — the Rob Roy became firmly en- 
tangled in a maze of bushes eight feet high. The men 
bravely pulled us through, but only to get her fixed again 
in the thickset stumps and reeds and thorny branches 
which studded the marsh exactly as they had been repre- 
sented to me so graphically in the tent. 

To the utmost possible limit of this I hauled and pushed 
and punted the Rob Roy, but there was an end to further 
progress except by getting out. The men standing round, 
and up to their middles in the water, were amazed to see 
me also jump into the river. 

Immediately there was a sharp twinge at my leg, like the 
cut of a lancet, and only then I recollected what I had 
been warned of so often — water-snakes.f But it was mere- 

* St. Willibald, in the eighth century, speaks of the buffaloes of Hooleh, as 
"wonderful herds, with long backs, short legs, and large horns ; all of them 
are of one color," and that they immersed themselves in the marshes except 
their heads (Robinson, vol. iii. p. 342, note). 

Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. pp.384, 385) seems to consider 
that the "behemoth" of Job meant the buffalo, and that the land of Uz may 
be reasonably supposed to be that east of Hooleh, the name of which might 
be derived from Hul, the brother of Uz. 

t May not these be alluded to in the words of Moses — "Dan shall be a 
serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that 
his rider shall fall backward?" (Gen. xlix. 17). One of the mounds in the 
morass is called Tell Hay, the "hill of snakes." 



266 



THE BARRIER. 



ly a leech. There are thousands of these in a pond above 
Banias, and men catch them for sale by dipping their limbs 
in the water. It is evident now that there are leeches also 
in Jordan. Upon a deliberate survey of the little horizon 
around me, it was perfectly clear that no boat, or even a 
reed raft, or a plank, could get through the dense barrier 
before me. I much question whether a duck could, or 
dare, go far into it, and only a fish would be safe.^ 

In one sense it was satisfactory to find the obstacle thus 
definite and beyond attempt. Had it been otherwise, or 
with the faintest chance for an entrance, I might have 
spent hours in vain, and the men would have left me as 
hopeless and mad, and still there would have, been before 
me miles of this impassable, nor can any one say how this 
would have ended. 

Now that their words were proved true, I frankly con- 
fessed it was so, saying, "Mafeesh derb !" my Arabic for 
" No road." So from the point marked N in Map Y., we 
began our journey back. It was a hard fight to retreat 
against current and snag. The men helped to their ut- 
most, but all of us were already tired. Sometimes they in- 
sisted upon towing the boat, but that was soon found to be 
useless.f 

After a tedious travel back, we reached the village 
banks, and the Kob Koy was carried into another tent — 
that of the whispering senator, not that of the sheikh. I 
was wet and weary, and put on more clothes and thick 
carpets, for I began to shiver. Then a fire was lighted, 
and the cold night air blew round me rolled up like a ball 
on the floor. 

I noticed a man with a horse, and in secret got a word 

* This will be confirmed by our knowledge of the other side of this barrier, 
as explained in the next chapter. 

t Towing a light boat in a winding river is one of the most dangerous of 
aquatic performances. If you tow it down stream, it is nearly sure to run 
ashore. If you try to tow it up stream, it is most likely to get upset at the 
corners, when its head is not free, and, in such a case, the contents of the 
capsized boat float away in a moment, and if you lose hold of your craft, it 
may be impossible to regain it by swimming. 



HOW TO EAT. 



267 



with him. I promised him good pay if he would start off 
at once to my dragoman at Mellaha. He said, " To-mor- 
row," but I firmly replied, " To-night much pay — to-mor- 
row no pay at all ;" then he asked me for a " writing " to 
give my dragoman. I knew that Hany could not read 
English, and that I could not write Arabic, but I sketched 
upon a bit of paper my canoe fixed in a tree, and this the 
man put into his pocket. Of course I felt sure that he 
would not — could not — start over the marsh in the dark. 

The tent was soon filled by fifty men sitting closely to- 
gether. The sheikh came too, but with a face of most 
hang-dog cheerfulness. He and the host and myself sat 
cross-legged near the canoe, and on the other side of the 
bright crackling fire were the visitors. In came a huge 
wooden bowl of smoking " kusskoosoo," a kind of small 
bean porridge uncommonly good to eat. Three little black 
saucers of buffalo cream were set by us, the magnates, and 
three wooden spoons. Water was brought for our hands, 
then the chief showed me the manner to eat my supper. 
Taking a spoonful of the cream he put it in his part of the 
general bowl and mixed it as he pleased, while I did the 
same at my side, and the other dark Arab at his. The 
people in front dipped their hands in the public dish as 
often as possible, and rolling up a ball of the contents in 
three fingers, each man cleverly whipped the food into his 
mouth. When we at the top had finished, the bowl was 
passed among the rest until every man had his supper. 
We all drank out of one narrow-necked water-jar. New- 
comers dropped in, and each of them bowed to the sheikh 
and saluted, the company. They all behaved with excel- 
lent propriety and good-breeding, and yet without any 
constraint. 

Their whole talk was about our day's adventures, espec- 
ially the lesson in geography — not that in the canoe, but 
by means of the nutshells — so I had to repeat it, and on a 
much larger scale. Then I told them a long story about 
steamboats which I had told to another Arab tribe twenty 
years before at the Dead Sea. Some old dirty figs were 



268 



PRISON FARE. 



produced as dessert, and I resolved to give them a treat 
from the "caboose" of the Kob Roy. Roast fowl came 
forth, therefore, and rice pudding, fine white bread, dates, 
excellent almonds and raisins, sugar, pepper, eggs, and the 
best black tea from old England. The raisins they seem- 
ed not to know, for they passed them from hand to hand. 
The tea, too, was quite a novelty, but by far the most 
prized was the pudding. 

Pipes were soon puffing. Every man of them pressed 
me to smoke his, and a youngster next but one to me"^ 
was my greatest favorite from his lively laugh and eyes 
like diamonds, and his quick perception of all I explained. 
In a whisper I w^as told an hour after that this was the 
identical hero who had aimed at me so often with his gun 
until I knocked it away with my paddle. I did not now 
alter my bearing towards him, for it would have been dif- 
ficult to explain why. Perhaps it would have been dif- 
ficult for this young rascal to explain why he aimed at me 
so often, though one can easily understand why the other 
one had fired the shot before. For consider that, while 
these people had never seen nor heard of a boat, they had 
all heard about ghosts and water-sprites, and so when they 
suddenly saw a thing with a man's face, but all the rest of 
it unlike a man — a long brown double-ended body joined 

* He smoked the "sebeel," a curious short pipe from Bagdad, without 
any stem. An Arab usually carries his chibouque thrust down his back, 
with the bowl uppermost, near his turban. If he loses his pipe, or forgets to 
bring it, he is in desperation, almost as bad as a lady who has mislaid her 
reticule. Once, in Egypt, the man who took us to some caves had left his 
pipe behind. When Ave came out, he ^ad rolled up a large thick brown 
paper, in which we brought the candles, and out of them he made a cigarette 
twelve inches long and an inch thick. My muleteer, Latoof, was the most 
inveterate smoker of our party on the tour, and by far the strongest man, 
but it was the nargilleh he affected, and not the chibouque. At Kerak, on 
the Sea of Galilee, his nargilleh was lost, and we were too far away from a 
village to buy another. In this difficult strait, Latoof went mooning about 
for an hour or two, but to solace his bereavement, he got a glass bottle, and 
two reeds, and some clay, and long grass, and a bit of wood, and with great 
ingenuity he managed to construe a new nargilleh, whereat Adoor, our laure- 
ate, had to compose a special song, and the old chorus was soon heard again 
in the gurgling of the hubblebubble. 



VOICE OF THE NIGHT. 



271 



bj gray skin to a gray pot-sbaped bead, and waving about 
two blue hands (the paddle-blades) — which of them could 
refrain from taking a shot at such a creature ? Would you 
or I, walking with a loaded gun and a finger on the trig- 
ger, and eager for an excuse to fire, if lue saw for the first 
time a thing in the air unknown before and yet plainly 
living, could we resist the desire to fire at it instantly? 
Not I, certainly ; so my assailant might well be forgiven. 

It was late when I was left with the old Arab only. 
After one look out on the bright moon, the starry night, 
and the palm-tree in front of us, I piled wood upon the 
fire, and carpets upon myself, and matting against the 
wide-chinked walls of our camel's-hair lodging. Behind a 
division^ in the tent, and within a foot of my ear, was a 
poor woman groaning all night in the distress of illness. 
I pitied her sadly in the dark, that she was suffering while 
I was so happy and well ; but I could not speak to her — 
that would have been felony at the least. The Arab 
snored beside the dying embers. Fitful thoughts sped 
dreamily through my brain. I had resolved to slip out 
unperceived when all were asleep and to cross the river, 
and then drag my canoe into a hiding-place until morning, 
and so to scramble somehow over the marsh, and then 
conceal the canoe and walk on to the camp at Mellaha. 
But after all attempts to devise a plan, I could not find 
any method of paying the men who had been my guides, 
and of course it would never do to leave them unpaid. 

In the gentle slumbering of playful dreams that follow- 
ed, and which are often most pleasant when one is thor- 
oughly tired, a faint far voice seemed to flutter in the mid- 
night. Again I heard it — wakened, and then heard it 
again distinctly, though so distant, calling out clearly a 

long-drawn "Eob Eoy !" The thrill that nerved 

me in an instant started me up erect, and with the loudest, 
longest hail I ever gave in my life, I shouted "Eob Eoy !" 

* The expression in Genesis xviii. 10, "And Sarah heard it in the tent 
door which was behind him," is supposed to mean that she was then on the 
women's side of the division or screen across the tent. 



272 



HURRAH ! 



in return. It was indeed my faithful Hany who was call- 
ing to me through the dark morass. Up rose the Arab, 
and clutched my feet convulsively. He thought I was 
raving, but it was only joy. I told him, "My dragoman 
is coming, hurrah !" but we listened long again, and yet no 
answer came to my hails, for Hany was now fording the 
Jordan, and he 'had quite enough to do. My messenger 
had, in fact, reached the camp at Mellaha, and had found 
Hany just arriving after eleven hours on horseback. Yet 
not for a moment did Hany hesitate what to do — to rest, 
or to rescue the Kob Eoy. The messenger then, told him 
he had brought a letter from me, but searching for it, no 
letter could be found.* Hany then suspected some plot of 
the Arabs to capture both dragoman and master. Yet the 
brave fellow started, and traversed this desolate wold. 

And now the sound of near hoofs reached me, and a 
loud long hail, which was answered by the Englishman's 
authorized formula, " All right !" Up trotted Hany on 
his tight little Arab quite as game yet as it had been at 
sunrise. Latoof came on my horse, and Adoor on the 
horse for the canoe. 

All was changed round us in a moment by this arrival. 
The news spread fast, and the sleepers were roused in the 
huts. " Leave it all now to me, sir," said Hany ; so I sank 
into a mere spectator of a real drama in life, and the play 
of character seen for the next half-hour was far beyond the 
fancies of the hired fictitious stage. Hany stirred up the 
old host to extreme activity, and then piled up a blazing 
fire, sent for the Arabs all round, and rated them soundly 
with caustic effrontery. One Arab dared to half mutter a 
protest, but Hany spurned him to the floor ; he launched 
out thus against even our friends, and abused Latoof for 
not quickly cleaning my boots — saying (aside) to me, in 
English, "Don't mind, sir! Latoof and I have arranged 
all this before." Hany was abject to me in manner — re- 
spectful is not the word — but contemptuous to the wild 

* He had lost it in the marsh, and I haye got it now (all stained by his 
red sash), having found the letter myself in the water. 



RIDING HIGH HORSE. 



273 



Iloolehites, and all this was as much as to say to them, 
" See how you are like grasshoppers before me — yet I am 
but the slave of Howaja, and his height above you how 
measureless — him you have dared to insult 1" 

I ventured to suggest, though timidly, "Hany, all this 
is but humbug." His answer was instant and final, " With- 
out humbug, master, we could never manage these men." 
Candles, and a sumptuous feast, and a brilliant teapot, came 
quickly out of his saddle-bags. I had to sit in state, and 
to eat with feigned hunger, while the Arabs could only 
gaze with awe. 

It was difficult not to smile at their altered bearing, but 
I paid all of them well that had worked for me, and man- 
aged to get a few compass-bearings by the pale light of 
dawn. Amid the loud rebukes and feeble answers at our 
parting, there was an amusing conversation in an undertone, 
and which we may render thus, wherein H. is my indignant 
dragoman, and A. is the Arab least abashed in reply : 

H. Who was it fired on my master ? 

A. He was a Druse — a stranger. 

H. When did he come, and where did he go ? 

A. He came two hours before, and left at once. 

H. Why did you not catch him ? Why did he fire ? 

A. Because the boat was so low the Howaja was sure to 
be drowned, and because, if he went on, he was sure to 
lose his way. 

H. And so to save him from drowning, or being lost, 
you thought it best to shoot him ? Ah ! dogs, brutes, pigs, 
Jews!* 

* Here, as well as some twenty years before, I heard men in Palestine call 
their fellows "Jew," as the very lowest of all possible words of abuse. 
When Ave recollect that the Jews in this very land, their own, were once the 
choice people of the world ; that now, through the whole earth, among the 
richest, the bravest, the cleverest, the fairest, the best at music and song, at 
poetry and painting, at art, and science, and literature, at education, philan- 
thropy, statesmanship, Avar, commerce, and finance, in every sphere of life, 
are Jews — Ave may well remember the Avord of prophecy Avhich told us long 
ago that the name of Jew Avould be a " by-word and a reproach," even in the 
JeAvs' OAA'n land. 

s 



274 



FKEE. 



H. After Howaja paid jou, why did one of your own 
men aim at liim ? 

A. Only to frighten Howaja. 
H. Did it frighten him ? 
A. Why — no. 

H. Do you think a great English prince will be fright- 
ened by your wretched guns ? (Hany had his double-bar- 
relled English rifle and his Colt's revolver dangling about 
most ostentatiously all this time.) Did you ever hear of 
Abyssinia ? 

A. Oh yes! we know all about the Ingleez at " Ha- 
bash." 

And so on. 

We soon forded the Jordan — the Eob Eoy carrying me. 
The journey over the plain, in a direction N". W., was dif- 
ficult ; but what must it have been last night for Hany and 
the jaded horses? Often the Eob Eoy had to be carried 
by hand, or floated on the pools, while the horses scrambled 
through. Once the sturdy Latoof went down completely 
overhead in a treacherous hole. 

At another place the canoe-horse sunk down until his 
head was buried in soft mud, even above his eyes, yet he 
flinched not at all. I never saw so steady a nag. Other 
parts of this journej^, or voyage, were so much of land and 
water* mixed that I towed the Eob Eoy along the surface 
by tying her painter to my waist in the saddle. The two 
guides who accompanied us from Salhyeh being handsome- 
ly paid, we trudged along easily under the mountains for 
the rest of our road, but Hany, still furious at the whole 
transaction of these two days, was urgent that I should 
write upon it to the English Consul at Damascus, 

It is a traveller's dut}^ to think of the others that may 
follow his route, and to remedj^ abuses, and to punish ex- 
tortions, and to abstain from doubtful actions, lest others 
may suffer, even if he is not injured. No person can be 

* One of three larger streams we forded was called by the Arabs " Ain 
Messieh," the " spring of Christ." Another M^as Ain Bellatu, " fountain of 
big stones." Our route along these is marked on Map V. 



DUTY. 



275 



more sensible of this duty than one who has been so much 
benefited by the good conduct of other travellers as I have 
been ; and it would not be from carelessness or a forgetful 
content with my own good-fortune that I should by weak- 
ness, or lavish giving, or by niggard pay, or winking at 
wrong, do any thing to spoil a good road for future tour- 
ists. But, after mature reflection on this incident in Hooleh 
marsh, I felt it was not one to complain of to our consul. 
The custom, well settled over all the East, is that the trav- 
eller must either come guarded by the local ruling power 
with an escort of adequate force ; or he must contract with 
an Amh tribe, in which case the "ghufr," or protection 
payment, makes the receiver of it responsible; or, thirdly, 
the traveller may go at his own risk, but then he must 
abide the usual consequences, and can not fairly complain 
either to his own Government at home or to that of the 
Sultan.* 

Now, the canoe could not have a Turkish guard, for it 
paddled where even Arabs could scarcely swim. Then 
its crew could not contract for " ghufr," because no tribe 
would answer for a man's safet}^ unless their sheikh or his 
soldiers conld go with him. Having chosen the third of 
these plans — that of travelling alone — I had to deal with 
the Hooleh Arabs only as between individuals ; and, after 
all, they had done me no harm, and had not injured the 
boat. They extorted money, indeed, but that is not un- 
common in Europe. They fired at me point-blank, but 
then it was because the thing they fired at was unlike any 
thing they had ever seen before, with a voice coming out 
of it singing in an outlandish tongue. 

Nor were these Arabs very rapacious when they found 
that the ghost was a man. The Arabs of Hooleh do 

* A Yankee sailoi- once shared my tent for some days, and being impatient 
of the slow travel, he took one of our muleteers, and set off by himself He 
wore a *' chimney-pot " hat and black coat, just as if he was in a European 
town. In a week he was robbed of all but his hat and coat. He got fitted 
out again by his consul, and in ten days more all his money was stolen again. 
Meanwhile I plodded on, and saw far more, and spent far less. 



276 



CHEAP. 



not go to the great centres of Eastern commerce, such as 
Damascus, Aleppo, or Jerusalem, where they would meet 
Europeans. Their trade is carried on by wandering 
Druses, who act as middlemen, while the natives stick fast 
in their primitive mud. Again, travellers do not stray to 
the suburbs of Zweer, and therefore, happily, the natives 
did not know what a ransom they might have demanded 
— at least £100 — as the proper price for an Englishman ; 
and I really can not complain of their terms of compro- 
mise, when I had a feast, and a lodging, and porters, and 
protection, and excellent fun, and all for the very reduced 
tariff of IQs. M. sterling. 

The whole transaction was harmless, after all, and it was 
an interesting comment upon the prediction of what Ish- 
mael was to be — " his hand shall be against every man 
and every man's hand against him." 



MELLAHA. 



277 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Mellaha. — Waters of Merom. — The Lake. — Raft of Bulrushes. — From 
above. — Puzzle. — Kedesh. — Start. — Arabs again. — PeHcan-hunt. — Grand 
Discoveiy. — New Mouth. — Thunder. — Inner Lake, — LiHes. — Roj'^al Sa- 
lute. — Breadth of Barrier. — Sixteen Swans. — Papyrus. — Its Use. — Hoav 
it grows. — Bent by Current. 

Riding on in front, my gray helmet was seen over the 
hill by our men at the camp near Mellaha, and shouts 
soon told how glad they were. After a little paddle on 
the lake and a bath, the remainder of the day was not too 
long to spend in rest upon my own comfortable sofa-bed. 
The change from prison to freedom, from uncouth strangers 
to my own contented, well-behaved retinue, with the Rob 
Roy now released and sleeping all safe in the sun, and 
Hany recounting his story, and melodious Adoor singing 
it all over again, while a dim picture of its best scenes kept 
ever moving past me in day-dream — this was an enjoyment 
which only the lone traveller can feel. 

This great morass of Hooleh, or the lake at the end of 
it is spoken of once in. the Bible as "the waters of Me- 
rom" (Joshua xi. 5). It is called by Josephus and later 
writers Samachonitis ; and the name of Hooleh, as applied 
to the vicinity, is at least as old as the Christian era. Some 
of the Arabs in the neighborhood call it the lake of El- 
Mellahah, and others Bahr Banias, or Bahr Haii* 

* The name Merom is from the Hebrew, "high lake." "This explana- 
tion of Merom is undoubted" (Stanley, "S. and P." 391, note); and the 
place is also called " Kaldayeh," " the high." 

The name Samachon (Josephus, "Jewish War," book iii. ch. x. sec. vii. ; 
and book iv. ch. i. sec. i.) has three explanations : 

(1.) From the Arabic Samak, "high." 

(2.) From the Chaldaic Samak, "red ; " which may well allude to the red 
clay banks of the Jordan, already noticed, or to the very dark water in the 
lake itself. 



278 



"AED EL-HAIT." 



The name of Hooleh, as applied to the lake, is as old as 
the Crusades. This may be derived from Hul, or Chul, 
one of the sons of Aram (Gren. x. 23).* 

The name "Meleha" ("the salt ") is applied by William 
of Tyre to the whole of the lake ("Will. Tyre," xviii. 13), 
" circa lacum Meleha." Burkhardt says (vol. i. p. 316) : 
" The south-west shore bears the name of Mellaha, from 
the ground being covered with a saline crust ;" but I did 
not observe any thing of a deposit except a grayish clay 
where the water of the lake is deep, quite close to the bank. 
The Arabs give the name "Ain Mellaha" to the spring 
running in at the north-west angle of the lake. Schwartz 
speaks of it as Ain Malka (p. 29), " Spring of the King," 
which may allude to Joshua's battle ; for we find Neby 
Yusha (Tomb of Joshua) on the hill to the west of the cen- 
tre of the marsh, and on the east is said to be the Tell Fa- 
rash (the Arab name of Joshua).f 

The wide level tract on the south-west verge of the lake 
is called "Ard el-Hait," or " Belad el-Hait." This level 
ground is richly cultivated,^ justifying the name, for " halt " 

(3.) From the Arabic Samach, "a fish." It is called Samac in the Jeru- 
salem Talmud. The name Sabac, " a thorn," giren to it in the Babylonian 
Talmud, it is said, "may allude to the thorny jangle round it," but I saw no 
' ' thorns " in any part. 

* We may compare the tomb of Sitteh Hooleh, the "Lady Hooleh," near 
Baalbec. Eobinson (toI. iii. Appendix, pp. 135, 137) speaks of the other 
Hooleh in the goverament of Hanes; and Einn mentions a village of the 
name east of Tibneen (" Byeways of Palestine," pp. 257, 386). In Smith's 
Dictionary (" Merom "), it is said that the word Hooleh seems in Arabic and 
in Hebrew to mean "depression." This may Avell explain how the term 
Hooleh is first applied to the district "Ard Hooleh," as a "hollow" among 
the hills, while "Merom " indicates the lake, as "high" among the waters. 
Burkhardt says : ' ' The lake of Houleh or Samachonitis is inhabited only on 
the eastern borders" (vol. i. p. 316). I have nsed the spelling "Hooleh" 
instead of the usual one "Huleh," as the latter is apt to be pronounced 
"Heuleh." 

t Stanley, " S. and P." p. 393, note. The "Wady Farash " is also 
marked in Vandevelde's map (as I have inserted it in mine), but though I 
asked the Arabs for it frequently, they never seemed to agree as to the ex- 
act spot ; nevertheless the name was CAadently known. 

X Pococke places Harosheth here ("Pinkevton's Voyages," x. 463), and 
many authors consider that Joshua's battle with Jabin was on this plain. 



THE LAKE. 



279 



means " wheat." A beautiful lily flourishes here, and is 
renowned as the " Lily of Hooleh.'^ 

From Map VI. it will be seen that Mellaha, where we 
are resting for Sunday, is at the north-west corner of the 
lake of Hooleh, on the pleasant sward beside a quiet la- 
goon. On this, in the shallows, I found a man afloat on a 
bundle of reeds, which he punted along, while his spear 
was stuck up like a mast. His delight and surprise when 




EEED KAFT. 



the Eob Eoy glided alongside, and then darted away to 
the depths where he could not follow, amused me much. 
From this, as head-quarters, it was my purpose to thorough- 
ly examine these curious upland waters, because the few ref- 
erences to them in travellers' books are exceedingly mea- 
gre ; and yet great decisive battles had been fought upon 
these shores, and the steps of our blessed Lord had hallow- 
ed their eastern verge. 

It is impossible to examine the upper part of this lake 
except from a boat, for the boundary there is entirely com- 

* Thomson thinks that this is the plant referred to by our Saviour when 
He compares Solomon with the lilies (Luke xii. 27). 



280 



FROM ABOVE. 



posed of tall papyrus ]:)lant,* perfectly inaccessible to man 
on account of its extremely close growth, and therefore 
this has never before been visited by any one who has 
told us what is there. And great additional interest was 
imparted to this voyage by the fact I had just proved, that 
the Jordan can not be followed all the way from its source ; 
but that it eludes our sight b}^ diving into jungle, where it 
defies all search from the north side as to where its waters 
roll into this lake of Merom. Therefore it became impor- 
tant to go from the lake itself upward along any channel 
containing the river, and then to go as far as the barrier 
which had stopped us in descending, so as to see how broad 
that barrier is. The result of the next few days' work 
upon the problem was an ample reward for all the trouble 
incurred in the complete and novel discovery of the hither- 
to unknown channel, as will speedily be seen. 

First, in order to scan the district from above, I ascend- 
ed the hills nearest Mellaha. There were ruins upon each 
of them, but we can not stop to consider these now when 
our eye is fixed upon the wider features of the plain. 

From this height the lake is seen just below us, bounded 
on the east by the hills of Bashan, which form a high pla- 
teau, behind which one sees the tops of another distant range. 
Westward of the lake, on the wide green level, a few tells 
rise by the water's side, and little groups of dwellings.f 
The dwellers here must be hardened to fever and frogs, 
wild boars, snakes, and ague half the year. They have 
many buffaloes and horses, but their trade is done by oth- 

* This is explained in detail {post, p. 294). 

t Stanley's description of this is not so accurate as his other pictures in 
words of what he saw himself. "In the centre of this plain, half morass, 
half tarn, lies the uppermost lake of the Jordan, about seven miles long, and 
in its greatest width six miles broad, the mountains slightly compressing it 
at either extremity, surrounded by an almost impenetrable jungle of reeds, 
abounding in wild fowl " (" S. and P." p. 390). According to my observation 
the size of the lake is not one-fourth of the area given here, the reeds ai-e thin 
and easily entered, and in the jungle of papyrus, which is impenetrable, there 
are very few waterfowl, while the "lake," whether that means the whole 
morass, or the open Avater, is not by any means in the centre of the plain. 
Finn says that there is a Wady Meleh, or Salt Vale, near Carmel. 



PUZZLE. 



281 



ers, for the natives seem to revel in their marshy home 
and rear their red rice,* while the big world outside them 
is left to roll on as it can. 

In different seasons and in different years the whole ap- 
pearance of this lake and its shores must be altogether dif- 
ferent. Thus, thirty years ago, Mr. Smith, twice travel- 
ling here, " had been able to get from the road only one 
or two glimpses of the water."f But when I saw it, the 
banks of the lake were quite bare except on the north side, 
where stands, as a savage border to the open water, the 
densest jungle ever man can see. This is nearly three 
miles across and perfectly flat, with a sombre color, and is 
marked with shading on Map VL The outline of the lake 
is irregular, but distinct. The marsh above it has a few 
still darker lines winding through the level, evidently the 
deeper shades of narrow hollows like canals, bounded by 
the jungle which hems in these silent, stagnant streams. 
Farther to the north are patches of water,:]: with islets 
plainly visible, and then the prospect shades away to green- 
er hues until the eye rests on the trees of Dan, far off, and 
lofty heights of Banias. 

Dr. Thomson speaks of this lake as a peculiar " pet " of 
his, and says it is of " unrivalled beauty." One is allowed 
to say this about a " pet lake," but I do not yet feel that 
enthusiasm. 

Between the marsh itself and the western shore — which 
we had skirted by the path under the hills — an irregular 
edging of water lies in disjointed shreds. This water is 

* Schwartz says (p. 47) : " Many canes also grow here, among which wild 
beasts, etc., find shelter, especially serpents and wild boars. Not far from 
the village Malcha, situated on its northern shore, the Jordan enters this 
lake. The inhabitants of the village just named cultivate the rice plant in 
this vicinity, which is the only place in Palestine where this plant grows. 
This rice, which is sent to the other towns, is quite singular in its color 
and flavor ; it is red in appearance, and swells in cooking to an unusual 
degree." 

t Robinson, vol. iii. sec. xv. p. 341, note. 

t The largest of these, near the centre, and which we visited afterwards, 
may have been that alluded to by Buckingham, as another lake north of 
Hooleh. See Robinson, vol. iii. sec. xv. p. 340, note. 



282 



KEDESH. 



often several feet deep, " and I had paddled my canoe npon it 
in various places ; nor would it be difficult, I think, to come 
all the way by water from the upper plain quite down 
to the lake. But in this bordering edge there is no per- 
ceptible current, though it receives a few rills from springs 
near the margin. At a.uy rate, to take a boat along this 
fringe of puddles would not be to follow the Jordan. 

Then where does the Jordan run to when it hides its 
dark stream after Zweer? Yandevelde's map boldly 
marks it on the east of the marsh, and most other maps do 
the same. Dr. Tristram, the traveller who has written of 
it after dwelling longest here, says that Jordan's course can 
be clearly distinguished on the east.f More cautious my- 
self, perhaps, in tracing rivers than those who have not to 
get a boat through the imagined channel, I could not dis- 
cern any sign of a stream on the east part of Hooleh, and 
for the good reason, as was afterwards proved, that no riv- 
er at all goes there. 

The ruins of Kedes (Kedesh ISTephtali) are in a valley to 
the west of the lake ; and although I saw them from above, 
and they would be Yevy interesting to describe, yet I must 
not depart so far from our actual log. 

Having made careful plans of the marsh by bird's-eye 
views of it from several hills, I started from Mellaha, ardent 
and rejoicing, to begin this most interesting voyage of dis- 
covery. The weather was very propitious for such an oc- 
casion : a cloudy day, with no wind, and a general mild- 
ness. I had, of course, arranged a regular plan of investi- 
gation, so as to measure the distances hj counting my pad- 
dle-strokes, checked by the time on my watch ; to take the 
angles by my compass ; and to sound the depth by a 20- 
fathom line. To do these four different things accurately, 

* I agi-ee -u-ith Robinson, who says this is an artificial canal. He also 
states that it is led off from the Hasbanv (vol. iii. sec. xv. p. 342). which is 
now known to be the case. Thomson describes the fomitains of this side in 
detail. 

t Smith's "Dictionaiy of the Bible '' also tells i;s the Jordan "enters the 
lake close to the eastern end of the upper side." 



START. 



283 



and to note the results in my log-book, gave full employ- 
ment to mind and bod}^, while anything to spare of energy 
was devoted to look out for curious sights, birds, fishes, ani- 
mals, plants, and stones, to scan the shores for hostile Arabs, 
and to note the character of the hills aloft and the beaches 
by the waterside. 

The first " course " for the canoe was to be straight 
across the lake at the northern end, where the water is 
widest, and then to inspect the supposed mouth of the 
Jordan in the east. ISText I intended to embark a stone 
from the Bashan shore, wherewith to commence soundings 
at regular intervals on the return voyage. But after 800 
double paddle-strokes, that is, about two miles and a half 
due east, I could see an Arab with a gun descending the 
slope of the rugged mountains straight in front of me. I 
turned to the right, and he followed. I went the other 
way, until the Eob Eoy was hid behind the jungle, but 
standing up in the boat I could see through the reed-tops 
that the man was lying under a shady tree on a beautiful 
green tell close by the waterside. Now, whether the man 
had shooting intentions or not, it would evidently have 
been unwise for me to turn up a channel (if one was found 
there), leaving him in command of the mouth of it to in- 
tercept m}^ return. Therefore, as he would not depart or 
come out of his hiding-place, I turned south along the 
eastern shore, and he followed running, and half a dozen 
more soon clambered down from the rocks shouting all in 
chorus. But in open water I could laugh at their humble 
efforts to keep up with the Rob Eoy as they struggled 
through thickets and round deep baj's, while I had a 
smooth lake to paddle on, and in any direction I chose. 
However, it being absolutely necessary for me to land that 
I might get a stone for sounding, I made a feint as if to 
reach a point jutting out, and when they were all in full 
cry for this to reach it also, I coolly turned to another prom- 
ontory, leaving a bay between us, and ran the Eob Eoy 
into the bank below some shady trees. Yery soon I could 
hear the Arabs splashing through the shallow edge of the 



284 



ARABS AGAIN. 



bight, and breaking down the jungle canes in an eager 
rush to my new landing-place. But after choosing and 
taking on board three stones, we slipped away in good 
time, and when they arrived, all hot and hasty, the Bob 
Eoy was quietly floating in deep water 250 yards from the 
shore. This was the distance Hany told me would be safe, 
as an Arab would not risk his bullet for a longer shot. 
All their efforts to persuade me to land were futile. I am 
afraid I " chaffed " them rather unceremoniously, but then 
they roared at me till they were hoarse. 

The process of sounding now proceeded methodically, 
and the entries of time, distance, depth, etc., soon occupied 
all my attention. Some beautiful Arab horses were graz- 
ing under the trees. Little coveys of wild ducks bobbed 
about on the sunny wavelets, or the shy ones dived, or the 
wary took wing. Kow and then pelicans sailed by on the 
air in solemn silence, and seagulls skimmed the edges of 
scattered isles. But after the myriads of ducks at Hi- 
janeh, and the clouds of pink flamingoes, and swans and 
pelicans, on Lake Menzaleh, one is "spoiled" for an}^ 
wonderment at a few hundred birds anywhere else. How- 
ever, at one pretty bay on the deep green papyrus margin 
I came upon a group of six pelicans together, swimming 
very near me. The desire to bring back a pelican from 
Hooleh seized me irresistibly, but how to do it, with only 
a small pocket-pistol ? I cautiously " stalked " them round 
reeds and tiny islands, until I could fire with good hopes 
of hitting. At the shot five birds rose majestically, but the 
sixth remained floating there. His struggles to rise were 
vigorous, but in vain, for he had only one wing to beat 
the air, so he always fell sideways again on the water. 
Quickly my pistol was reloaded, but with my last bullet, 
and I must not throw this away. I knew it would be a 
difficult piece of business to kill this powerful bird. His 
struggles with me might overset the Eob Eoy, or with his 
strong beak he might smash her cedar deck or her cap- 
tain's face. Then w^hat to do with him when dead ? He 
was far too large and awkward as a cargo to carry two 



PELICAN HUNT. 



285 



miles in comfort, and cutting off his head would be a troub- 
lesome operation. So I resolved to make him carry his 
own big body all the way to the camp by chasing him to- 
wards it while he swam. We both prepared for the chase. 
He began by disgorging a volley of small fish from his 
beak, but I took a different plan, for, as it was now full 
time for luncheon, I put my usual lunch on the deck before 
me and ate luxuriously at intervals while I chased the poor 
pelican for an hour and a half. He soon saw what were my 
tactics, and he swerved right and left to get back into the 
coverts; but I headed him always like a greyhound coursing 
a hare, and yet never came within a few feet of his beak, 
lest he might be driven to attack my boat in desperation. 

Our camp had been moved down to Almanyeh, and our 
men there wondered to see the Rob Roy coming slowly 
from afar and very crooked in her course, with a white 
something in front of her bow, which seemed in the dis- 
tance to be a foaming wave. When near the camj), I 
rushed in quickly to get the doable-barrel, and then went 
off again to the pelican, who meantime was far on his way 
to some reedy home. There was only small shot in the 
gun, and that could not penetrate his feathers ; but at 
length I chased him ashore, and he was soon enveloped in 
an Arab cloak, fighting bravely all the time. His wing 
measured four feet six inches, which (allowing for the body) 
would give about ten feet of stretch between the two tips. 
His head I brought home, but the great black feet, which 
it was thought would dry into a sort of imperishable 
leather, were soon dissolved into a mass of black meaning- 
less jelly.* 

* The Arabs call the pelican "mjah," and sometimes "jemel el bahr," 
that is, "sea-camel," which well describes its manner of carrying the head 
with the neck in a double arch. Besides those that fly by the sea, and the 
Nile, and the lake Merom, the pelican is found upon other lonely ponds. 
Finn states that one was killed in Solomon's Pools, near Jerusalem. 

The captured head, which has curly feathers, was sho^vn (with other cu- 
riosities of this voyage) at the exhibition held in summer by the Palestine 
Exploration Fund, as remarkable on account of its size, the manner of its 
capture, and the place where it was taken. 



286 



GEAND DISCOVERY. 



Next day was devoted to a strict examination of the 
northern side of Merom, and very soon on turning into one 
of the deep bays in the papyrus, I noticed a sensible cur- 
rent in the water. In a moment every sense was on the 
qui vive^ and with quick-beating heart and earnest paddle- 
strol^es I entered what proved to be the mouth of Jordan. 
At this place the papyrus is of the richest green, and up- 
right as two walls on either hand, and so close in its forest 
of stems and dark recurving hair-like tops above that no 
bird can fly into it, and the very few ducks that I found 
had wandered in by swimming through chinks below, were 
powerless to get wing for rising, and while their flappings 
agitated the jungle, and their cackling shrieks told loudl}^ 
how much they wished to escape from the intruder, the 
birds themselves were entirely invisible, though only a few 
yards from me all the time. But they were safe enough 
from me or any other stranger, for in no part could I ever 
get the point of the Eob Eoy to enter three feet into the 
dense hedge of this curious floating forest. 

The Jordan's mouth here is hundred feet wide, and it is 
entirely concealed from both shores by a bend it makes 
to the east. The river thus enters the lake at the end of a 
promontory of papyrus, and one can understand that this 
projection is caused by the plants growing better where 
the water runs than in the still parts, so that the walls or 
banks of green are prolonged by the current itself. Once 
round the corner, and entering the actual river, it is a 
wonderful sight indeed. The graceful channel winds in 
ample sweeps or long straight reaches in perfect repose 
and loneliness with a soft beauty of its own. Eecovering 
from the first excitement of this important discovery, I set 
about recording all its features in a methodical way. First, 
of course, by counting paddle-strokes, as I slowly mount- 
ed the stream, then by noting the bends right and left in 
my book, and the few tributaries that entered on this side 
and that. On the west, one joined which I might have 
easily mistaken for the true channel, but happily recollect- 
ing my sketch made from the mountains, I knew that this 



THUNDER. 



289 



arm from the west ends in nothing, so I went steadily up 
the other. Presently a strange noise came out of the foli- 
age, and approaching cautiously, I found two great falcons 
or water-eagles feeding on something in their nest on an 
islet. The Rob Roy at once " beat to quarters," but when 
her crew attempted to "board," out rushed the male bird, 
and screamed and whirled about me so defiant that " dis- 
cretion was the better part of valor," and the nest was left 
alone. 

A few tiny sparrow-like birds hovered here and there 
on the papyrus tops, and two or three divers swam a yard 
or so in the open, and then rose and w^ent out of sight ; 
but the solitary silence of the place was almost painful, 
and it begot a feeling of awe when nothing but green jun- 
gle was present on every side, and yet I w^as glad no other 
man was there — not from churlish jealousy, but for his 
own sake too, who might wish to enjoy this scene — let him 
come also, but free from me, and at some other time. The 
paddle in new places is best enjoyed alone, just as the fish- 
ing-rod or the exciting tale. 

The channel narrowed, and the current sharpened, too, 
at 800 double strokes (about 4000 yards), and I confess 
that here I was almost about to return, from some vague 
unaccountable fear, or weariness, or presentiment that I 
was to be lost in the maze of green ; it seemed then so far 
to have gone away from life and light outside, and in so 
short a time. Yery often since have I rejoiced that more 
bravery came, and I determined at least to rest and think, 
before returning. The Rob Roy clung to the shady side 
of the channel, and then a long and glorious peal of thun- 
der rolled athwart the sky. 

I have listened to that deep-toned voice when standing 
on a volcano's crater — when gazing at night on the Falls of 
Niagara — and when sailing alone in the hurtlings of a 
midnight storm on the breakers at Beachy Head. These 
were, indeed, splendid times and places for hearing in the 
depths of one's mind the loud speaking that comes out of 
the unseen. But none of them was so perfectly new and 

T 



290 



INNER LAKE. 



strange as this one single roar from heaven, shaking the 
vast quiet of Hooleh. 

An immediate effect of it was to awaken energy and to 
nerve me to go on, so as at least to accomplish the round 
sum of 1000 double paddle-strokes. But before doing so, 
an old newspaper I had cast on the river, and which now 
floated along, suggested the idea of measuring the speed of 
the current. For this I cut a long papyrus-stem into pieces 
of a few inches, and carefully scattered them across the 
channel and marked the time by my watch, so as to see 
how long would elapse before they were overtaken after- 
wards in our descent of the stream. This plan, however, 
though carefully worked, was futile, for I never saw one 
of my floats again.* 

At 960 strokes, suddenly rounding a corner, I entered a 
beautiful little lake, just one you would picture in fancy. 
The general contour of it was round, but the edges were 
curved into deep bays, with dark alleys and bright pro- 
jecting corners, and islets dotted the middle. Every sin- 
gle part of the boundary about me was green papyrus — 
not ragged and straggling, but upright and sharply defined. 
The breadth of this east and west was estimated at half a 
mile.f Extreme caution was instantly prescribed by this 
novel scene, for without coolness and clear noting of the 
course, it might be difficult or impossible to find again the 
narrow entrance which I must pass through for my return. 
Therefore, I bent down some of the tall green stems and 
tied them together, and placed upon them for a warning- 
flag large slips of " the Supplement." Then carefully not- 
ing the compass-bearings, I advanced to the next group of 
islands, and did the same again, always placing the bea- 
cons upon the right hand, so as to show the way out in re- 

* After much consideration, and as it was better to overrate the current 
than to overstate my advance into the papyrus, it appeared right to estimate 
the distance traversed by each double stroke of the paddle here at four yards 
instead of five and a half, and this part of the map, therefore, is constructed 
upon that reduced scale, 

t Seen from the mountain, it appears certainly wider than this, but I ha^ e 
followed the MS. notes, entered at the time in my log. 



LILIES. 



291 



turning. The lake y^b.^ perfectly still — not calm as a mill- 
pond," •which expression often includes a shivering ruffle 
on the water, but with a smoothness like glass itself, and 
the water below was clear and without the slightest cur- 
rent. The lake was shallowed to five feet, but all the bot- 
tom was a soft mass of delicate water-moss, patterned in 
pretty green net-work. Large yellow lilies floated on the 
surface in gay-colored bouquets. I had seen many of these 
lilies along the north shore of the lake, but their stems 
were very thick and multitudinous below, so that, when- 
ever I tried to drag up the very roots of them — if, indeed, 
they have any roots in the earth at all — the weight became 
so great that it was quite unmanageable. However, I cut 
and brought home some portions of the complicated mass. 
In the very centre of the lake, the canoe " hove to " for 
compass-bearings. 

The sun was now very hot, but the air was cleared by 
the thunder. The view, so much contracted before by the 
high papyrus-walls, now opened on all sides, for there was 
space about me. 

To the north was the rounded head of splendid glitter- 
ing Hermon, and to its left the far-off snow on the sharp 
indented Sunnin, chief of the Lebanon range. High on 
a lonely crag to the west was Neb}^ Yusha, " Joshua's 
Tomb,"^ and the eastern shore was girt by the " hill of 
Bashan."f 

* Thomson seems to consider this to be the site of Hazor, Finn well re- 
minds us that the rehes may often be intended to honor Moslem "saints," 
who had Scripture names. 

t In our sketch at p. 287, the two snow mountains are depicted. This 
sight of Senir and Lebanon, and the hills of Bashan, all at one time, and 
from a boat, reminds one of the beautiful verses in Ezekiel (ch. xxvii.), 
where the rich grandeur of Tyre is painted in language so magnificent, and 
the mountains now before us have a place : 

"Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect 
beauty. 

"Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy 
beauty, 

"They hive made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have 
taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 



292 



EOYAL SALUTE. 



In the middle of all, and evidently as yet unconscious 
of my nearness, was one of the most graceful of living ob- 
jects — a pure-white swan, floating upon the lovely lake, 
that mirrored his image again below. It never entered 
into my head to shoot him, pretty creature — that would 
have been sheer sacrilege : his tameness was quite shock- 
ing. But, just to waken up the echoes around us, and to 
give vent to the emotions of my mind, so long pent up in 
absolute silence, I fired a volley, and gave three cheers. 
It was a very difficult thing to make quite sure that this 
little lake was a termination of the journey upward ; that 
it was not merely an enlargement of a stream which I had 
now resolved to follow up, coute que coute, to the end. 
But a careful circuit of its labyrinthine borders satisfied me 
that this is the earliest floio of Jordan as one river after it 
dives into the barrier whither I had traced it some days 
before. The north end of this lake was at 1130 double 
paddle-strokes from the mouth of the channel : that is, 
6000 yards, or less than three miles and a half ; and, al- 
lowing for current, it may be well averred that the Jordan 
aggregates its waters in this inner lake at the head of a 
channel which winds along nearly three miles before it en- 
ters the larger lake of Hooleh. 

The interesting question as to the breadth of the impas- 
sable barrier could be settled only after my return, and by 
a comparison between the observations made in my jour- 
ney down the river in Map Y. and those made now in this 
central lake, the northern end of which is marked P in 



"Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars ; the company of the 
Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of 
Chittim. 

"Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spread- 
est forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that 
which covered thee. 

" The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners : thy wise men, 
O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. 

"The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers : 
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy mer- 
chandise." 



BREADTH OF BARRIER. 



293 



Map YI* This was done with the advantage of the MS. 
survey of Captain Wilson, already noticed ; and it will be 
seen that the interval between N and P — that is, the 
breadth of the barrier — is about half a mile. 

The journey back along the new channel was pleasant 
and easy, and lasted less than an hour. My various bea- 
cons all were spied, and, to guide the next canoeist, I left 
them there ; but with the keenest look-out, I could not dis- 
cover any one of the current-floats which had been so care- 
fully strewn for the purpose, and only the floating newspa- 
per could be discerned on the gliding stream.f 

At the mouth again, all safe, the Eob Roy was moored 
for luncheon in the shade, and never was a roast fowl eat- 
en with a heartier relish than after such a delightful morn- 
ing's work. 

Next she entered a bay farther eastward, but this quick- 
ly narrowed and ran up into a cul-de-sac at 2000 yards, un- 
til I could pass only through a narrow gap into deep 
gloomy waterways, without any stream, and where the tall 
papyrus-stems were tangled over my head. Still I follow- 
ed this up to its positive termination, and with all the pre- 
cautions (as to beacons and guide-marks) so useful before : 
and again the canoe came back into the light, where, in 
the green circuit of the bay, once more I found, in one 
group of graceful elegance, sixteen wild swans swimming 
together. Beautiful as they were, I was glad to have seen 
that one swan first before meeting so many. Again a sa- 
lute from the pistol stunned the air. All the white beau- 
ties rose in terror or high dudgeon ; their wavy circlings 
above me cleft the sky with bright gleaming tracks for a 
moment, and they passed away like a vision. 

As the Rob Roy again neared the lake, I felt that the 

* For obser\-ations as to latitude, I was dependent entirely on one bearing 
of Neby Yusha, seen from point P, but the distance estimate from paddle- 
strokes may well be considered to transfer the measurement to the mouth of 
the river in the lake, and so to connect it with the survey of the lake itself. 

t This, however, did not help me to estimate the current, because the 
time and place of its starting had not been noted. As a rough guess, I 
should say that Jordan's current here is, at the most, about a mile in an hour. 



294 



PAPYRUS. 



wind had risen very suddenly, and this soon explained a 
most curious hissing, grinding, bustling sound, that was 
heard like waves upon a shingly beach. For, to my sur- 
prise and delight, I found that the margin of the lake about 
me was waving np and down, and the papyrus-stems were 
rubbing against each other as they nodded out and in. It 
was plain in a moment that the whole jungle of papyrus 
was floating upon the water^ and so the waves raised by the 
breeze were rocking the green curtain to and fro. 

My soundings had shown the depth in Jordan's channel 
to be almost uniform, at from twelve to ten feet, all the 
way up ; and at first it seemed strange that there should 
be any special current in one part, when the water had ap- 
parently a wide way to run through underneath the float- 
ing field. But the reason of this is soon apparent when we 
know how the papyrus grows ; and as the vast area of it 
now before us is believed to be the largest mass of papyrus 
in the world, it may be a proper time to look at this 
strange plant here. 

The papyrus plant (in Hebrew '* gome," and in Arabic 
" berdi ") is called " babir " by the Arabs of Hooleh, which 
is as near the Latin word as can be, considering that the 
Arabs use h for jj. Its stem is three-cornered ; in this fea- 
ture it is one of a limited number of plants. The thicker 
and taller stems are not at the edge, but about five or six 
feet inward ; therefore I was unable to get at them without 
incurring great danger. Also, as I meant to bring out the 
largest possible specimen, I kept putting off the endeavor 
until finally the opportunity had passed. The follow- 
ing sketch shows the manner of growth of this plant. 
There is first a lateral trunk, A, lying on the water, and 
half-submerged.^ This is sometimes as thick as a man's ■ 

* The woodcut in Smith's ' ' Dictionary of the Bible " represents the stalks 
as nnder water, but the natural free gro\^^h of the plant seems to me from a 
floating trunk, and this would only be submerged exceptionally. The small 
flowerets on the hairy threads of the thyrsus top in Smith's sketch are not 
seen in winter. The sketch of papyrus given by Dr. Thomson does not 
show its multitude of tall stems. The papyrus represented by a steel en- 
graving in " Bruce's Travels " is very accurate. 



ITS USE. 



295 



body, and from its lower side hang in- 
numerable string-like roots from three 
to five feet long and of a deep purple 
color. It is these pendent roots that 
retard so much of the surface-current 
where the papyrus grows, as noticed 
above for explanation. On the upper 
surface of the trunks the stems grow 
alternately in oblique rows; their thick- 
ness at the junction is often four inches, 
and their height fifteen feet, gracefully 
tapering until at the top is a little round 
knob, with long, thin, brown, wire-like ^ 
hairs eighteen inches long, which rise, 
and then, recurving, hang about it in a 
thyrsus-shaped head. The stem, when 
dead, becomes dark brown in color, and 
when dry, it is extremely light; indeed, 
for its strength and texture, it is the 
lightest substance I know of. 

The papyrus was used for writing upon b}^ the Egyp- 
tians, and was prepared for this purpose by cutting it into 
thin slips. These were laid side by side, and upon them 
others in a cross direction, and both were joined by cement 
and then pressed into a continuous sheet. It is obvious 
that by this means the length, and to a certain extent the 
breadth, of a papyrus roll might be made according to 
pleasure. The name papyrus (babir) still survives in the 
English name of the material upon which these words are 
printed. Smith's Dictionary tells us that the Hebrew word 
for the papyrus, gome, is used four times in the Bible.^ 
The Ethiopians made boats of it ; Ludolf says that these 
boats are used in the Tzamic Lake, and Moses was hid in 
a vessel made of this.f I have mentioned above that I 




PAPYRUS STEMS AND BOOTS. 



* In the Septuagint the word izairvpoQ is used. See also ante, pp. 86, 87, 
note. For reeds in general the Hebrew term is kaneh. 

t Dr. Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 337) says the proc- 
ess described in Genesis ii. 8, may mean that the ark was "bitumed" by the 



296 



HOW THE PAPYRUS GROWS. 



saw a man on an " ark of bulrushes " at Hooleh, and I 
have often seen a woman put her babj on a bundle of reeds 
and swim across the Nile while she pushed it along. 
The plant is mentioned in a beautiful passage of Isaiah 
(chap. XXXV. 7), and in Job it is asked, " Can the papyrus 
grow up without mire ?" (chap. viii. 11). Herodotus says 
ihat the papyrus was eaten after being stewed. This Pa- 
pyrus antiquorum is not now found in Egypt, nor anywhere 
in Asia except in Syria. But it grows 7° from the equa- 
tor in Nubia, on the White Nile. The marsh of Hooleh 
is, therefore, perhaps the largest collection of papyrus to 
be seen anywhere. It is traced along the Jordan only a 
short distance (as is noticed hereafter), and then re-appears 
at Ain et Tin, on the Sea of Galilee, and -is also said to be 
found on the Kiver Aujeh, near Jaffa; but I did not ob- 
serve it in the part I examined of that river. Another 
kind [Papyrus syriacus) is cultivated in our botanical gar- 
dens, and is found wild on the plain of Sharon.'^ 

It is not difficult to understand how the papyrus grove 
is so very thick just at its boundary edge, whereas reeds, 
or rushes, or other aquatic plants, usually get sparse and 
stunted or broken down all round the borders of a marsh, 
or where it merges into open water. 

This peculiarity, which gives to the papyrus plain of 
Hooleh its most remarkable feature of upright wall-like 
sides — and that, too, on deep water — is caused, I think, by 
the manner of the plant's growth. Such of the lateral 
stems as shoot out into open water become bent or broken 
by waves, and so they bind in the rest, and the outer stem.s 
have too much wind and rough weather to flourish as well 
as the others do inside, being well protected. This may be 
noticed even more distinctly when the papyrus grows in 
running water, as in this part of the marsh through which 

mixture, so as to resemble a coffin, and thereby to enable the mother to take 
her child out of the house. 

* Dr, Tristram, in the "Leisure Hour," 1866, p. 553. Thomson probably 
alludes to the latter kind when he mentions papyrus in the river Fulej, near 
the Aujeh ("The Land and the Book," vol. ii. pf 268). 



BENT BY THE CURKENT. 



297 



the Jordan flows. While we remark that tne plant seems 
to thrive best where the water is not stagnant, and so the 
largest stems are near the channel of the river, yet it may 
be asked how it is that they do not spread across the chan- 
nel itself. The sketch below will explain this at once. It 
is a bird's-eye view of several of the lateral trunks, which 
are represented as being turned by the force of the current 
all in one direction — that of the arrow, S — and so gradual- 
ly bending round to the positions E, T, U, they at last fold 
upon, encircle, and strangle their neighbors, and serious!}^ 
hinder their growth. The width of the 
clear channel is therefore kept at a uni- 
form relation to the speed of the current: 
for if that is slow, it allows the trunks 
to spread and to cover the surface, and 
with their roots to narrow the channel 
until the speed of the stream is thereby 
increased, and the trunks are by it 
curved stunted, and worn off, and so a 
just balance is regained. 

The amount of water exhaled by the 
evaporation from millions of these stems, 
presenting so large an area of surface 
above, must be prodigious, although, on 
the other hand, the shade of their thick 
darkness keeps the direct rays of the sun 
from striking into the water itself. So 
much for the papyrus. 

The Eob Eoy then entered every little bight along the 
indented edge, to make perfectly sure that no other open 
channel was to be discovered, until at length she came to 
the eastern coast of the lake. Here I peeped round the 
cape, but no Arab was in sight at the moment : yet I was 
too tired with wopk and the excitement of discovery to 
venture upon a longer journey here, and I slowly paddled 
across the open water to the hovels of Mataryeh, whither 
our camp had been ordered to move. 




GROWTH OF PAPYEU8. 



298 



ON HOOLEH. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

On Hooleh. — Cutting a Cape. — Canoe Chase. — Hooleh Lake. — Jacob's 
Bridge. — Who crossed it. — Templars' Keep. — Grand View. — Jew's La- 
ment. — Ten Miles of Torrent. — Hard Times. — A Set of Ruffians. — The 
Worst. — At last. — All right. — Note on the Rivers. 

The Rob Roy was eager next morning for one more 
day of search, and to scan especially the eastern border of 
the lake. To aid the fishing venture on Lake Hooleh, a 
boat had actually been built of boards carried there from 
Tiberias. I went to see this wreck, which foundered at her 
launch, they said, and was now lying under water in a deep 
bend of the western shore."^ 

It was not entirely without misgivings that I once more 
paddled to that same mysterious corner at the north-east 
end of the lake, where the Arab, like a spider in his web, 
had full command of the approaches, and might wait in 
ambush for his prey. But this point had to be examined 
before our survey could be called complete ; and, as it 
must be done, we had best do it at once, and thoroughly. 
I did not steer a straight course to the spot, but first across 
the lake to the wall of papyrus, and then along that, entire- 
ly hidden, until I came close to its eastern end. 

Here a new plan of action was devised, namely, to cut 
the cape in two, instead of "doubling" it, and thus I 
might stealthily come out opposite the little tell, and so 
spy out the land while invisible myself A break in the 
boundary favored this design, for there were only canes 
here, and thick white reeds, and not papyrus. Storing my 

* For travellers, however, and especially for those who wish to visit the 
charming central lake we have spoken of, or to gather the ferns, and papyrus, 
and lilies on the water, or to fish, it is well to know of this sunken craft, 
which a few nails would doubtless soon make quite seaworthy, but oars must 
be brought, for there were none, and no wood to make them of. 



CUTTING A CAPE. 



299 



paddle below deck, then I dragged my boat in by hauling 
on these canes with a hand on each side. 

But the water shallowed, and if an Arab saw me, he 
could wade out and catch the Rob Roy fixed in this dense 
jungle. After much reflection, therefore, I returned to 
open water, and then went into the jungle of reeds again, 
but this time stern foremost^ so that in the event of an alarm 
I might be in the most favorable position for running 
away ! Yes, there is a time to prepare for a safe retreat as 
well as one to get ready for a bold attack. The Rob Roy 
now "advanced backward" through the reeds, and soon 
came at last into open water, having cut across the isthmus, 
and so entered the bay of the east side, where the maps in- 
dicate the Jordan as issuing from the marsh. It was a 
fine open bay, and the green tell and the large shady tree 
were there on the land, but no human being was visible, 
nor even a horse. The dashing of an unseen cascade was 
the only sound.* 

AVith hurried strokes the Rob Roy ran up northward, 
impatient to finish the problem which could be considered 
only half solved until it had been proved that here no 
stream comes forth. The regular river had been met and 
followed up for three miles in its new-found course on the 
west. Still there might possibly be another or a branch 
of it here. Well, there is no stream at all in this eastern 
bay, which has distinct bounds all about its circuit. And 
now being fully satisfied of this important fact, I thought 
it wise to get out of the cul-de-sac^ and set off at a good pace, 
happy with the work we had accomplished. It was quite 
easy then to paddle along the eastern shore, and to sound 
the depth of water as I went. But though the Arabs were 
high up in the hills with their tents and flocks, they very 
soon noticed the little boat, the only speck on the lake below 
them. The clear air which they looked through, with the 
clear eye that only an Arab or an English sailor possesses, 
also carried to my ear the shouts from the shepherds 
standing amazed on the rocky peaks, " Shaktoorah ! shak- 

* None of the maps mark a stream here, and I forgot to ask its name. 



800 



HOOLEH LAKE. 



toorah !" as they rushed down, impetuous to get near. It 
was no use, of course, for they could not catch the canoe 
either b}^ running through the dense jungle on shore or 
by swimming in the water, and I only laughed at them 
gayly, and waved the paddle in defiance. 

The lake lies quite close to the hills on the Bashan side, 
but, strangely enough, the water is not so deep there as on 
the west, near the plain of Mellaha. To test this, I ran in 
oblique lines and sounded every fifty strokes (and some- 
times twice as often), though it was a tiresome process, be- 
cause the canoe had always to be stopped, but then the re- 
sult was satisfactory. Though done for the first time, it 
was done thoroughlj;^, and the depth of the " waters of 
Meroni" is now ascertained forever. The result may be 
stated generally that Hooleh Lake has an average depth 
(in the winter time) of about eleven feet. By Jordan's 
mouth, on the northern edge, it is twelve feet, and for some 
way up the channel. In a few places (and these principal- 
ly close to the west bank) the depth is fifteen feet, once it 
is seventeen feet deep, but in no part of the whole lake did 
I find three fathoms of water.* 

Ilear the south end there is a bay with fine trees on the 
banks and steep rocks above, among which upon the slope 
is a ruin, and here the canoe paused a long time, carefully 
scrutinizing the square strong building, which we were 
assured afterwards is only a mill, but the ruin looks very 
different from that. 

For luncheon the Eob Eoy landed at the w^est side be- 
low Tuleil, where the bank was of grayish clay, very co- 
hesive. Then we carefully sounded and "compassed" the 
narrowing end of the pear-shaped lake, until between islets 
of papyrus and tall canes the w^ater closed into a regular 
channel once more, which, by graceful w^inding, narrowed 
to a hundred feet across, with a good current going, for it 
was now a decided river. This is the first unquestionable 

* On Map VI. fpage 303), drawn (like I\Iap V.) to the scale of half an 
mch to the mile, the soundings of principal places are marked in feet. But 
there were many other soundings taken besides these. 



Jacob's bkidge. 



303 



Jordan that can be approached from shore, and is formed 
of all its three wonderful streams that are born from the 
rock, gush out at Hasbeja, Dan, and Banias, pour down 
into the marsh of Hooleh, there combine, and thence rush 
on to the Sea of Galilee ; and through that onward, wind- 
ing fast, thej hurry into the Dead Sea."^ The course of 
this part of Jordan is given in Map VI., as it passes with 
a broad sweep round the Tell Beit Yacob ; and after this 
place (at the point marked in the map) I recorded in my 
note-book " last papyrus here." It was interesting to ob- 
serve afterwards, while reading Bruce's narrative (written 
some eighty years ago), that he in his journey had re- 
marked the papyrus at this identical spotf This great 
traveller seems to have always had his wits about him, 
and almost all the observations of his that have been re- 
viewed since are found to be accurate, even when he said 
that in Abyssinia men cut beefsteaks out of their living 
oxen as they travel, though the doubts cast upon this 
statement by his contemporaries went far to break his 
honest but sensitive heart. Our camp was near the bridge 
of black basalt depicted in the sketch at the corner of the 
map, and which is the first bridge over the complete Jor- 
dan. From the end of the lake this bridge was distant 
650 paddle-strokes, that is, 3523 yards, or three yards over 
two miles, which is the measure on shore given in Murray. 
Thomson gives a sketch of this bridge as seen from the 
north. Schwartz calls it "Jisr Abni Jacob," Bridge of 
Jacob's Sons. The bridge is about sixty feet long, has 
three arches, and no parapet.:}: At the west end is an 

* I think that by a cutting 400 yards long, and twenty feet deep, at the 
end of Hooleh Lake, the whole of the marsh and lake would be made dry in 
a year, and an enormous tract of land would become productive and salu- 
brious. 

t "Bruce's Travels," a.d. 1790, vol. v. Appendix, p. 3. The river Hen- 
daj is marked as running into Jordan from the Avest, above this bridge (in 
Vandevelde and in Petermann), and near Almanyeh in Porter's map. I did 
not observe any river enter as thus represented. 

t Robinson states that it "has four pointed arches, and is sixty paces long " 
(vol. iii. p. 363) ; but he does not appear to have visited it. 



30i 



WHO CEOSSED THE BRIDGE. 



Ugly round tower, and a khan is over the river. The cur- 
rent is very trifling until quite close to the bridge. A few 
unkempt soldiers were in mat huts near the bridge, and 
their horses dreadfully dirty, but good nevertheless. These 
men take toll from passengers."^ The bridge itself has 
been most likel}^ built since the Crusades (Schwartz says 
in 1112, by Baldwin lY.), but the spot selected at once 
suggests that a ford was here, for it is just where the deep 
water ends, and before the high banks of the torrent begin ; 
and no other place would be suitable for twelve miles 
north or eight miles south of this ford. 

Eobinsonf states that the writers before aud in the 
Crusade era mention this only as a ford of Jacob. Abul- 
feda calls the ford "El Ajran," and the spot Beit Yacob 
(House of Jacob), as others did, probably referring to the 
tell with ruins on it a little farther north, and shown in 
our sketch. As to the name which seems to connect this 
place with "Jacob's daughters," it seems almost clear that 
Jacob himself did not cross to meet Esau here, but " passed 
over the ford Jabbok,":}: on the occasion which is marked 
by his wrestling with " a man," when he called the place 
Penuel. Naaman, the prince of a pagan race, may have 
gone this way to the prophet; and the zealous Saul may 
have crossed here, " breathing out slaughter," going to 
Damascus, or the Apostle Paul coming back. Our Sav- 
iour himself may have passed over this to CjBsarea. 

Much against all advice, I now determined to follow the 
river close by its verge all the way to Galilee; not, of 
course, in the channel, for that was utterly impossible, as 

* Gumpenberg, in a.d. 1450, seems to have paid toll here, but the usual 
route for caravans before that was to cross the Jordan below Tiberias, 
t Vol. iii. p. 362. 

t Gen. xxxii. 3-22. The subsequent route of Jacob, as described in this 
and the following chapters, it is not easy to follow, unless the words ' ' passed 
over" refers sometimes to fording the Jordan and sometimes to the Jabbok 
or Zerka River; and it may be that the name "Bridge of Jacob's Daugh- 
ters " means the ford used by them, or with regard to them, separate from 
the particular journey of their father. Thomson says that the oaks of Ha- 
zu;y, near Banias, are said to be inhabited by "Benat Yacoub," or "Jan," 
a genus of spirits (" The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 372). 



templars' keep. 



305 



it soon becomes a mere torrent-bed, and a white-foamed 
bursting rush, of water hurries between rocks thick set 
with oleanders, which often meet across the stream not a 
dozen feet in width. Before the river settles down into a 
thorough-going mill-race speed, it makes a sweep or two 
to right and left, as if with a struggle to get free, and its 
stream is divided by islands and large rocks. About a 
mile below the bridge are some imposing ruins. Their 
position settles at once that the building was put here to 
command this important ford. It was, in fact, a castle 
built 700 years ago,"^ and was given to the Templars, who 
then held this road. But Saladin took the fortress, and 
razed its proud battlements. Now it is only a disappoint- 
ing ruin. Our evening was spent until dark in a long 
ride by this channel and over the stony hills to see if it 
were possible to carry the canoe on these dizzy precipices, 
where not one single inhabitant is found for miles, and not 
even an Arab's tent was to be seen all day. 

Few travellers have had the same strong reason for going 
by this route — the desire to continue what had been as yet 
adhered to as a rule — that I should actually see the bed of 
the Jordan from its very beginning right on to its end. 
Hany was against the plan, though he had learned to 
doubt his own doubts as to what could be done with a 
canoe. He never once, however, opposed himself entirely 
to any distinct resolve of his master. In this important 
point of his character, and in many others, he is undoubt- 
edly the best dragoman in Syria. Therefore we rode on, 
my horse being frisky enough for any mountain climbing, 
until a most interesting point was reached, and there is 
only one such place, I suppose, in this curious gorge, from 
whence you can see both the lake Hooleh with the Jordan 
coming out, and the lake of Genesareth, into which the 
river flows. The distance between these lakes is not more 
than ten miles in a straight line and the river has few 
long bends between them; so it probably does not add 
more than three miles to its course by winding. Yet the 

* Robinson, vol. iii. p. 363. 

u 



306 



GRAXD VIEW. 



descent of "the Descender" is very rapid here, for it falls 
in these ten miles about 700 feet."^ Daring the whole 
course of the Jordan from source to end there does not 
seem to be one notable cascade or regular "fall." 

The point we have reached is a good one to pause at, for 
several boundaries meet here, and the passage from one to 
another of these is sudden and distinct. Behind us are 
the threefold springs of the river's birth. In front we 
have the bright lake whose shores and waters had teemed 
with life all fed from Jordan ; beyond that lake, and dim 
to the eye far off, is the river dead in Sodom's Sea. 

The bridge behind us marks a new chapter in the his- 
tory of our Lord. Already we have lingered where Christ 
had visited a high mountain, and the Law and the Proph- 
ets had met the Gospel each by its noblest representative, 
to discourse of the great event which is the centre of Grod's 
dealings with mankind, the offering of his Son. But now 
we are looking to where He lived most among men. On 
that mount that is now behind us, Peter would have made 
a tabernacle to dwell in, but he is not to abide in the cloud, 
however glorious. The fisherman is to return to his nets 
in that sea below. 

Behold here the front of that grand stage upon which so 
great a drama was enacted, where the Teacher taught long- 
est, the Healer cured most, the Prophet first gave warning, 
the Saviour gathered his people, the Light of the world 
shone brightest, "Galilee of the Gentiles." While thoughts 
of Jordan recall past wonders to the Christian, and a glori- 
ous future too, there is sadness in the reverie upon this 
river penned by an Israelitef thus : 

"My God! how is my soul bowed down within me, 
when I remember thee in this land of Jordan (Psalm xlii. 7). 
Is not this whole district of the Jordan abundant^ watered, 

* In the first fire days of the Danube from its source, the canoe had de- 
scended about 1500 feet, but then there was more water to float in, several 
weirs, and a few cascades, and yet the cun-ent was at any rate as fast as one 
would wish to see, and that was nothing compared with the speed of the Jor- 
dan here. t Rabbi Schwartz (p. 81). 



TEN MILES OF TORRENT. 



307 



fruitful, and blessed, like a garden of the Lord ? (Gen. xiii. 
10). And still it is scarcely trod by tlie foot of a traveller, 
it is not inhabited, and the Arab pitches not there his tents, 
and the shepherds do not cause the flocks to lie down there 
(Isaiah xiii. 20). Still, thus speaketh the Lord Zebaoth, 
There shall yet be in this place, which is waste, without 
man and cattle, again a 
dwelling for shepherds, 
causing their flocks to lie 
■down. In those days shall 
Judah be redeemed, and 
Jerusalem shall be inhab- 
ited in security. And this 
is the name it shall be 
called. The Lord our 
Righteousness (Jer. xxxiii. 
12, 16)." 

The annexed sketch 
is an outline, north and 
south, from the hill we 
have mentioned. Before 
us we see the low^er end 
of Hooleh Lake, with the 
Jordan running out of it 
towards us. If we now 
turn the book round, and 
look from the same cen- 
tral mount, but now facing 
southward, we see the Jor- 
dan running from us, until 
it enters the Sea of Tibe- 
rias. The two projecting points to the left in this view 
are the Wady Semakh and Wady Fik,* while the south- 
ern shore at Kerak is seen to bound the lake in the far 
distance ^bout twenty miles from our point of view. An 
intervening hill on the right hides the land of Genes- 
areth ; and the actual entrance of Jordan into that lake is 

* Both of these are shown at page 413. 




TEN MILES OF THE JOEDAN. 



308 



HARD TIMES. 



not visible, I think, from our present stand-point, being 
shut out by a hill to the right. How great the descent of 
Jordan is, we can see pretty plainly here by a glance first at 
Hooleh above and then at Tiberias below, comparing their 
levels by the eye, while the loud noise of the river foaming 
at our feet tells also to the ear how fast the Jordan flows. 

Our camp was astir early to follow the route we had 
thus reconnoitred. For horses and mules there was noth- 
ing to make the w^ay diflhcult, but the danger we feared 
most for the canoe was that which came from the wind. 
In the high gusts of a breeze it was always found necessary 
to put two men behind the Eob Eoy to prevent the little 
horse that bore her from being actually capsized when the 
wind pressed hard against the long flat side of the boat 
perched high upon the cautious creature's back. Now the 
path was much too narrow here to allow even one man to 
keep near so as to help the Eob Eoy thus, and especially 
in the most awkward places of the road, where it wound 
along the edges of deep precipices, and where the footing 
was worst and the wind was strongest. In such places an 
upset, or even a false step in staggering against the blasts, 
would instantly hurl the horse and its burden into the tor- 
rent below. 

Often we had to dismount the canoe, and to carry her 
by hand past sloping edges or crooked rocks. Sometimes 
even to carry her by hand was difficult, when the mount- 
ain gusts blew strong, and when one man could not hear the 
other's voice for direction. Patience and perseverance tri- 
umphed here once more, and the route began to descend 
rapidly, with a full view of the splendid Sea of Galilee 
ever cheering us on. 

I had now such full confidence in Hany (like that which 
a mother feels in a well-tried nurse) that I could leave him 
alone to take care of "the young lady and indeed he 

* Not decked in dead folks' hair is she, 

Her ribs not cramped in steel, 
No draggle-tail, for you and me 

To tread on, dangling at distorted heel. 



A SET OF EUFFIANS. 



309 



begged me to go out of sight at the worst places, so that he 
might have only one anxiety at a time. To stifle anxiet}^ 
by hard exercise, I climbed the heights about us, and 
always had some new beauties to see from the top. At 
last, having gone far ahead, riding alone, I selected a place 
for luncheon where a crystal stream rushed past in head- 
long race for the Jordan, and lovely anemones spangled 
the turf under shady trees. 

The instant I dismounted, a man's head appeared over 
a rock beside me, and then another opposite, and a third 
behind. In such a case, alone and outnumbered, one has 
only to be cool and stand firm. Presently seven or eight 
men, all armed with guns, closed in upon me. 

A half-policy here would be of no use, so I quietly slip- 
ped off my horse's bridle, loosened his girths, and spread 
my large cloak under the tree, and, having haltered my 
horse's leg, laid myself down in the most confiding way 
that traveller could behave. My visitors were not Arabs : 
they were the veriest set of rufl&ans to look at that any one 
could set eyes upon. They stood round and nodded, and 
I had a free chat with them all ; but they began it. 
" Who are you ?" " Ingleez." " Where are you going ?" 
"Tiberya." "What have you to sell?" "Nothing." 
" Are you here alone ?" " Oh, no ! there is a shaktoor 
coming soon, and you will see it." "A shaktoor ? Did you 
say a boat?" So I told them of the canoe on the Nile, and 
the Ked Sea, and the Barada, and the Hasbany ; but when 
I spoke of sailing her upon Lake Hooleh, they burst out 
into derisive jeers. One of them seemed to be a Greek, 
but the leader was more like the men one meets in the Ba- 
learic Islands ; so I tried him with a few words of the pe- 
culiar Spanish pafozs there, and, sure enough, he turned out 
to be a renegade from the mild sway of the motherly Is- 
abella, Father Claret, and the Bleeding Nun. He was 
amazed at such a rencontre^ and so was I. All the others 
were silent, but soon they retired for consultation and came 
again for "backshish," when, just at the proper moment, 
the bow of the Eob Eoy appeared over a distant hill, nod- 



310 



THE WORST. 



ding, nodding, as the horse stepped carefully bearing it. I 
pointed to that. The men were bewildered at such a sight. 
The mule-bells tinkled in our approaching caravan, and 
they saw I was not quite a lone wayfarer fit for these 
cowards to rob. 

Soon my men were near. Hany saw it all at a glance. 
The only time I ever saw him frightened was then. " Get 
away, sir ! get away from this place as fast as possible ! 
Cross the stream ! These are a pack of regular robbers. 
We can not stop here for one moment." 

So the palaver was put an end to, and my friend from 
Majorca moved off, saying they were " only looking out for 
game to shoot;" and, indeed, just before they came up, I 
had noticed two otters (as I thought), or they may have 
been conies, wandering among the rocky clefts of the 
stream, and observing my movements with great keenness 
and sagacity. The view a little farther on from our bivouac 
was truly magnificent, as the whole lake of Genesareth 
opened wide beneath us. Twenty years before I had 
gazed on these waters, but not from this end of the lake, 
and with only that tantalizing look which a limited hour's 
visit to such a scene causes to be a mixed joy to see it so 
pretty and sorrow to leave it so soon. 

But now I gazed upon this lake as the haven of a long- 
voyage, the chiefest purpose of a charming journey, the 
delightful waters where I was to stop, to see, to see thor- 
oughly, to have unbounded enjoyment upon for many days, 
if only I could get my boat safely there ; and it was so. 

But the part of the road now to be done was by far the 
most trying of the whole travel. Hany had predicted this, 
and I had alternately confuted his logic, and rallied him on 
his fears. They were not causeless, however; and how we 
ever got a canoe through that last mile of stones and marsh 
and sliding precipice, I can only wonder still ; and most 
earnestly would I warn any other person against it who 
intends to come here with a boat. 

Marsh we had learned to plunge through, stones and 
rocks we knew how to manage, for at the worst the canoe 



AT LAST. 



811 



could be carried by band. But bere tbe deep morass was 
full of large round boulders, so tbat tbe borse's feet migbt 
be ever so sure in tbeir bold, and just at tbe critical mo- 
ment tbe stone be was standing upon gave way. Tbe 
mules — tbose clever and amusing companions, if you will 
but learn tbeir fun — were completely puzzled bere. Wan- 
dering rigbt and left, and refusing for once to follow tbe 
little black donkeys wbo could lead best of all, tbey stag- 
gered and fell, witb a loud crasb of crockery and tbe sbouts 
of tbe men wbo were wading over tbe bog. Hany and 
Latoof carried tbe Eob Eoy for a quarter of a mile at a 
time. I admired tbeir pluck and patience, wbile I mourned 
for tbeir falls and bruises. It was bard enougb to get on 
witbout any load, and I was quite wet tbrougb wbile lead- 
ing my puzzled borse and jumping from island to island 
among tbe pools. But tbat mattered notbing, of course. 
Indeed, we all felt tbat no one must spare bimself tbis time. 
It was tbe very last time we bad to be anxious about, for 
once tbe Eob Eoy was in tbe Sea of Galilee, I knew sbe 
would be well able to meet any dangers tbere. Water we 
can deal witb in a boat, or if sbe founders, it is a legiti- 
mate end; but to perisb by a fall in a quagmire, that 
would indeed be inglorious for a travelled canoe. After 
about eigbt bours spent over as many miles of journey, 
tbe bottom of tbe bill was reacbed at lasf^ 

Tbe Jordan bas come down tbe narrow gorge mucb fast- 
er tban we bave scrambled tbrougb it ; and now tbe river, 
tired witb its foaming, spreads as if resting on a sort of 
delta, wbicb is gradually wider to tbe sbores of tbe lake. 
Tbis fertile land is beautifully green, witb busby trees and 
level sward. Numerous side - currents from tbe main 
stream meander bere, and flocks of buffaloes, borses, and 
goats, are scattered over tbe plain. Otber parts of it are 
cultivated, and tbe tents of an Arab tribe dot tbe green 

* It must be remembered that this was midwinter, and that we were di- 
recting our course to an unusual point, where the canoe could be again 
launched upon the river. The road is a bad one, but for usual travelling it 
is tolerable, and the scenery along it is a fuU reward for any trouble. 



312 



ALL right! 



landscape with their quaint black hamlets. I had ridden 
among these very slowly, until the mule-bells sounded 
near behind me coming on, yet for a long, long time there 
was no sign of Hany, and none of the canoe. 

The Arab horses, browsing free and frisky, trotted up to 
gaze upon us. The Arabs themselves must have wonder- 
ed why the Howaja kept riding on while his face was al- 
ways turned behind in anxious expectation. At length, 
through the copse of brushwood, the well-known bows of 
the Eob Eoy were seen aloft, and a hail from Hany shout- 
ed aloud, 'All right!" 

Glad hour, that ends our fears and ushers in bright hap- 
py days of life upon the Lake of Galilee ! 

And here, before launching on the most interesting wa- 
ter in the world, we may give a parting glance to the riv- 
ers we have left. 



NOTE ON THE COUESE AND FALL OF THE JORDAN. 

As we are leaving Jordan here, it seems a fit time for a 
brief general survey of some of its principal features. 

From the Hasbeya source to the Dead Sea, the direct dis- 
tance is about 120 miles. I estimate the addition to be 
made for winding of the channel from the source to the end 
of the Sea of Galilee as 20 per cent., and for the rest as 100 
per cent, (judging from Warren's outline of that part). 

This would make the water in the first part to be 60 miles 
long, and in the second part 140 miles, or in all 200 miles of 
channel, from the source to the Dead Sea. 

The Hasbeya source is 1700 feet above the Mediterranean, 
and the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below the Mediterranean, so 
that the total fall of Jordan is 3000 feet, which would be 15 
feet per mile of its channel, or 25 feet per mile of its direct 
distance. 

If we subtract the lake of Genesareth, and the lake and 
marsh of Hooleh — 20 miles together — the fall in the remain- 
ing 100 miles of direct distance is 30 feet per mile. 

The level of Hooleh morass is estimated at 150 feet above 



NOTE ON THE RIVERS. 



313 



the Mediterranean, so that about 1500 feet, or half the total 
fall of Jordan, is descended before the river reaches the bar- 
rier in Hooleh,* and the Jordan comes to the level of the 
Mediterranean about two miles below Jacob's Bridge. Thence 
it pours down its waters into the heart of the earth, and if 
the Mediterranean Sea were to be admitted to the interior 
of Palestine, it would rise nearly to the ruin of the Templars' 
keep at Jacob's Bridge. 

The surface of the lake of Tiberias is 653 feet below the 
ordinary sea-level (its greatest depth is 165 feet). 

From Kerak, at its southern end, the river descends about 
650 feet into the Dead Sea. As a general outline, then, it 
may be said that the Jordan runs 20 miles, falling 1400 feet, 
into a basin 12 miles long; then runs 10 miles, falling 700 
feet, into another basin 14 miles long; then runs 65 miles, 
falling 700 feet, into a basin 50 miles long and 1800 feet deep. 
Here, the waters of Jordan being fresh, and therefore lighter 
than the highly saturated salt water of the Dead Sea, the riv- 
er stream most probably disperses over the upper surface 
only, and so, being evaporated before they mingle much with 
the brine that lies heavy and deep below, they are wafted 
by the south wind in clouds once more to Hermon, and, con- 
densed into snow-flakes, with water from the Abana and 
Pharpar, also borne up to Hermon, they trickle down again 
to run along old Jordan's bed, their endless round. f 

* The fall from Hooleh Lake to tlie Jisr Benat Yacob is given at ninety 
feet (Wildenbrach), but I consider this estimate to be at least seventy feet 
too much. 

t In the "Journal of the Geographical Society," vol. xviii., are two papers 
by Dr. E. Robinson, of New York, and by Petermann, the well-known ge- 
ographer, from which the following notes may be inserted upon the compara- 
tive "fall"' of rivers; but the value of these for comparison depends upon 
the degree of accuracy with which the "lengths" are measured along the 
general course, or the actual windings of all the channel. 

The Dee, of Aberdeenshire, ranks in size with the Jordan. From the 
Linn of Dee (after its cascades as a torrent) to the sea, it runs 72*2 miles, and 
descends 1190 feet, or 16*5 feet per mile. 

The Tweed runs 96 "4 miles, and falls 1500 feet; average about 16 feet 
per mile. 

The descent for the Severn is 26^ inches, and for the Shannon 9 inches, 
per mile. 

The Clyde runs 98 miles, and falls 1400 feet, about 14 feet per mile. 



314 NOTE ON THE RIVERS. 

The Abana falls 1442 feet from tlie mill five miles below 
Zebedaiiy to Damascus, about 20 miles, or 70 feet per mile ; 
but the fall afterwards, until it is lost in the lake, is trifling 
— saj^, 100 feet, or 5 feet per mile. The Pharpar seems to 
fall about 25 feet per mile at first, and 5 feet afterwards. 

Thus we have reviewed some of the principal characteris- 
tics of the chiefest of those " waters of Israel " which Naa- 
man would not compare with the "Abana and Pharpar rivers 
of Damascus." True, these Syrian streams gave more fertility 
than the deep-cut Jordan, but they could not wash away his 
blot of leprosy. God had appointed for that the river He 
chose to bless as a means ; and for our hearts, sick with sin, 
He has also pointed out a healing stream. Morality is good, 
but powerless for this deadly stain, " There is a fountain fill- 
ed with blood." 



The Thames runs 215 miles, and descends 376 feet, or about a foot and a 
half per mile. 

The mighty Amazon faUs only 12 feet in the last 700 miles of its course, 
or only one-fifth of an inch per mile. 

Eobinson makes Jordan fall 14 feet per statute mile, and says the Rhine 
in its most rapid portion, and including the fall of ScliafFhausen, has but one- 
half the average descent of the Jordan, which in the 984 feet of its descent in 
60 mUes has room for three cataracts, each equal in height to Niagara, and 
still leaving an average fall equal to the sAviftest portion of the Rhine, includ- 
ing the cataract at Schaflfhausen. 

Baalbec is 3726 feet above the sea (Vandevelde). Dr. E. Robinson says 
the Litany runs 55 miles to the sea. This would give a fall of 67 feet per 
mile, or if we take the latter part of the river, after it has cut through the 
rock, 50 feet per mile. 



"on deep GALILEE." 



315 



CHAPTER XIX. 

"On deep Galilee." — Bank. — Names of the Lake. — Shores. — Submerged 
Ruin. — Naked Stranger. — Lagoons. — Ports. — Bethsaida Julias. — Oozing 
Streams. — River Semakh. — Gergesa. — A Pause. — Tell Hoom. — Keraseh. 
— Fete. — Search for Piers. — Submerged Remains. — Breeze. — Storm. — 
Searching below. — Curious Stones. — No Port. — Tabiga. — Bethsaida Bay. 
— Flocks and Shoals. — Genesareth. 

Next morning opened gloriously with sunshine on the 
lake. Thick grass, browsed short by the flocks, was a car- 
pet for the Arabs squatting in a circle about our tents, the 
occupation they so dearly love and will always work so 
hard at — looking on. Merriness filled our camp. Oar 
perils were done. Nobody could be anxious now. The 
horses neighed, the mules even gambolled, and Adoor sang 
out his blithest lay. Climbing behind the hills of Bashan, 
the sun poured over their edges into the deep bosom of 
the lake, and the shadowy mists of the night gat them in 
haste away. The Rob Roy's deck was still glistening with 
dew-drops as we carried her before the sight-seers straight 
to the banks of Jordan. 

The river is noisy here, but with a pleasant harmless, 
chatty sound, and sweeping in wide bends among white 
boulders and clean gravel. Then it enters a quieter chan- 
nel, skirted by stiff banks of clay, well clothed by grass 
and the red branches of oleander. A few strokes in such 
an onward current soon took us away from the Arabs, 
who stood on a point in a wondering group, and their deep- 
toned " Ullah !" was scarcely heard. Now she was to en- 
ter the Sea of Galilee, and in the most enlivening of all 
ways, entirely alone. By gentle curves the Jordan softly 
closes here to the western shore, and passes two large flat 
buildings near its mouth. For the last two hundred yards 
the river enlarges suddenly, and for twice that distance 
back the current is almost nothing, which shows that 
the level of the lake extends some way up the river's 



316 



BANK. 



channel, and this being so when the water was low, no 
doubt, when the lake is full, the current must nearly cease 
a long way back from the present mouth. 

The actual junction of Jordan with the lake is remark- 
able. A long point of fine black gravel, almost like sand, 
and full of shells, juts out westward from the eastern bank, 
and in the bay formed by this I rested to survey the love- 
ly scene, while buffaloes gradually assemble to gaze, with 
their necks outstretched. This peculiar form of bank 
(nearly crossing the river's mouth from one side) is a 
marked feature of the streams at the north of the lake, and 
the same elegance of curve, regularity of slope, and neat- 
ness and purity of the gravel on the bank, were also inva- 
riably seen all round the shores, and more easily now, be- 
cause the water was low. This curved neck of fine black 
grit and white shells mingled, narrows the mouth of Jor- 
dan to seventy feet, the stream being chiefly on the west, 
as may be seen from the soundings given in feet in the 
sketch, which represents the mouth of Jordan as the point 
shown in Map YIL, at Chap. XXL, which is reduced from 
part of a photograph of the unpublished Ordnance Survey 
Map, made by Captain Wilson, E.E., and Lieutenant An- 
derson, E.E., in 1866, and which was kindly presented to 
me for use on the voyage. It is now inserted in my log 
as the first correct map yet published of the Sea of Galilee. 
The soundings are in feet from Yandevelde, taken from 
Lynch. 

This lake or sea has had four names, Chinnereth, Ge- 
nesareth, Galilee, Tiberias.^ All these are inserted together 
in the old map of W. Wey (see j)ost p. 377, note). 

The lake is called " Chinneroth"t in the Old Testament, 
either from " Chinnereth," one of the fenced cities, or from 
the district, or perhaps from the oval, harp-like form of its 

* The name " Tarichion " (from Tarichea, novr Kerak) was sometimes giren 
(Pliny, lib. V. ch. xy.\ 

+ Stanley (" S. and P." pp. 373, 4), refen-ing to Numbers xxxiv. ii ; Josh, 
xii. 3 ; xiii. 27 ; xix. 35. The Talmud says it was called Cinnereth because 
its fruits were sweet, like the sound of a hai-p (Xeubauer, " Geog. Talm." 
p. 215). 



NAMES OF THE LAKE. 



817 



basin. Now that the real shape of the lake can be seen 
in our map, the word "oval" KnjYr t 

does not apply, but the form [ M j— a 



was called Genesareth from a town or district on the 
shore. When the lake is called by John (vi. 1) "the Sea of 
Galilee, f which is the Sea of Tiberias " (the Sea of Galilee, 
of Tiberias), it may be to distinguish this lake from that 
other sea of Galilee, Lake Hooleh. The earlier Evangel- 
ists call it the Lake of Genesareth, for Tiberias was then 
a new and unimportant town ; but John, who wrote later, 
calls the lake by the name of the town, which had by that 
time become important. 

Soon after the river has emerged, it forms a " bar," the 
usual outwork of a swift stream when suddenly arrested by 
the water of a lake or sea, for the matter in suspension 
then subsides. High short waves bristled here, but not 
caused by wind, and after a splash or two from these as a 
welcome to the Eob Eoy, she floated in peace on the Lake 
of Genesareth. In low lake the water is fordable at the 
bar, and the depth is about three feet, except for a short in- 
terval, but the more usual ford is nearly a mile and a half 
up the stream, where I saw men wading over in four feet 
of water, while each of them carried his clothes on the top 
of his head.:}: 

* "Journey to the Dead Sea," etc., vol. ii. p. 431. 

t The name Galilee in Joshua xx, 7, is in Hebrew Galil, and in 2 Kings 
XV. 29, it is Na-Galilah. It came to signify an entrance or bound (as in 
architecture now "the Galilee" or porch of the cathedral). Twenty of the 
cities of the district were annexed by Solomon to the kingdom of Tyre, and 
formed the "boundary" or " otFscouring " ("Gebul,"or " Cabul"), after- 
wards the "coasts," of Tyre (see " S. and P." p. 363). 

X Fords in some rivers shift suddenly, but not such an one as this, so that 
it is likely that the people crossed here when they followed our Lord, who 
went over the lake in a ship. 



is more than ever seen to be 
harp -like. De Saulcy* says 
that in Joshua xi. 2, the He- 
brew text has " south of Chin- 
nereth," and the Chaldaic text 
has " south of Gennesar." It 




318 



SUBMEEGED RUIX. 



To make a complete examination of the Holy Lake 
along its shore was the purpose of my voyage during the 
next two weeks, and by method and system we at once be- 
gan with the northern shore. On the west of the river the 
beach of this lake has the appearance of tan-dust or peat, 
very soft and yielding, nearly black at the water's edge, 
and brown where it is dry. A fine tree here at Abu Zany 
grows just by the lake, the only one close to the water all 
round the western side. It is 500 yards west of Jordan 
mouth. Turning east again, we soon come to a few palm- 
trees* about fifty yards inland, and near them is a small 
shapeless ruin. Here is a wall of hewn stone five feet un- 
der water, and about ten feet long, extending to twenty 
feet from shore. The beach there is of black gritty basalt 
particles mingled with sand and multitudes of shells. The 
shore shelves rapidly, so that at twenty feet from the edge 
there is seven feet of water. The land is flat and swampy, 
in a level plain called Butaiah, as marked on Map YII. 

The canoe had skirted slowly along this shore, keeping 
just far enough from the edge to enable my eye to see 
any thing like large stones or buildings under water be- 
tween me and the bank, and this was the general course 
pursued all round the lake. For seven hours a day during 
seven days my sight was half below and half above the 
surface, scanning every object with eager interest, and few 
searches are more exhaustive of time, patience, and energy, 
than this, if it be done carefully. On five other days I 
kept to land work only, so as to be refreshed by variety. 
To do this in any other lake might be wearisome enough, 
but here on these blessed shores it was indeed a labor of 
love. Thus eying the deep, I began to examine the ruined 
wall, and to probe with my paddle. Now, at least thought 

* These palm-trees are often spoken of as if they were exactly at Jordan's 
month, by writers who have not actually seen the place closely. Vandevelde 
marks this as Bethsaida el ]Mesadyeh, Thomson seems to regard it as the 
eastern part of Bethsaida, built, as he supposes, on both sides of Jordan. 
The three sets of palm-trees on the north-eastern shore are depicted in our 
outhue sketch (^ost, p. 349). 



NAKED STRANGEE. 



819 



we, no robber can be near, and tbe sigbt below can be 
scanned in peace. Certainly tbe sbores for some way in- 
land were perfectly clear when tbe search began; yet just 
as my eye was close to the calm water, and every sound 
was hushed that I might drink in the pleasures of sight, a 
loud shout was heard close beside me, " Ya walud !" (Hol- 
loah 1 you there!) and I looked up just in time to see the 
dark-brown body of a naked man in the very act of 
" taking a header " as he dashed in from the shore towards 
me. But my paddle was instantly in action, and when his 
wet head came up at my bows, the Eob Eoy was backing 
astern full speed, and my new friend was full half a mo- 
ment too late to catch hold of her, while he received an 
ample splashing of water from my blade in his eyes. Splen- 
didly the fellow swam, but I merely played with him and 
laughed at his frantic efforts and wild shouts. Pie paused 
and stared — quite at home in deep water — spouting at me 
a loud and voluble, indignant address, and then he retired 
in defeat, while I neared the shore again. There he stood 
erect and gleaming with moisture, and redundant life play- 
ing through his brawny muscles, a most strange object to 
behold. Now that man must have been not a little brave 
to dash in thus, in order that he might seize the " sheitan " 
at once and unarmed ; but invincible is the desire of man 
to get hold of what is unknown. Waiting did not get rid 
of him, so to lose no more time, I had to proceed without a 
proper examination of the ruin below water, and this, I 
think, is the only subaqueous novelty all round the lake 
that I did not investigate well. The entrance of the crook- 
ed lagoon near this on the map is twelve feet deep, and no 
doubt there was a port inside, but I did not enter there on 
account of the naked Arab. 

The margin soon afterwards had small bushes growing 
on it, some of them oleander. There the sand predominates, 
and large round boulders are in the deeper parts. We are 
still coasting along the level plain, which curves round the 
north-east edge of the lake. Several travellers have rid- 
den across parts of this, but the notices of its nature and 



320 



LAGOONS. 




LAGOOif AJJD POET, BUTAIA PLAIN, 



contents are extremely meagre. Yet here must have 
been many villages, if not towns, in the days of our Lord, 
for the tells and other signs of former habitation are thick- 
ly -scattered. Several inlets from the lake run through the 
shore to the level country behind.* 

We next paddled on to a lagoon near C in the map, and 
shown in our sketch. Near the mouth is one hewn stone 

under three feet of water, 
and a wooden stake one foot 
W^^^ loiig: under two feet of water. 
This is an inch and a half 
I " " ^ o'^^y^ thick, and is round and up- 

^ V^o^, ^^^>«f pigiit;, and in a hne with the 
J " " ^; submerged causeway. The 

post was too firmly fixed to be 
pulled up, though I tried hard 
for a long time, yet it looked very old. The entrance of 
this lagoon is between two low narrow points of fine black 
sand, one of them curiously turned round (see another of 
this kind at W. Semakh). The part at D is only three in- 
ches above water, and twenty feet wide. The channel 
(entrance seventy feet wide) runs in E.S.E. From point 
B the palm-tree near Jordan bears N.W. by The 
channel, after 400 yards, turns at right angles towards a 
tell with ruins, and here is the second clump of palms. 

At B the boundary is above water. 
On the north side of the channel is 
a row of rush-turfs, half submerged 
with two or three feet water, and 
close alongside them all the way it 
is five and six feet deep. A chan- 
nel, six feet deep, runs out fifty yards 
into the lake. 

Farther on, near B on the map, there is another gap in 




* When the Ordnance Survey of the lake was made, a long storm of rain 
had filled the lake, but my visit, though at the same time of the year (in Jan- 
uary), was after a long drought had made its level low, and the contour of 
the lake was, therefore, slightly different from that in the map. 



PORTS. 



321 



the beach. The channel is four feet deep, and winds up 
to a palm-tree. Farther east there is a port with a channel 
to another palm-tree, but the bar is closed. At D on the 
map there are oleanders, and from this the large terebinth 
in the plain bears N.E. Going still south, we come to 
Kefr Argib* or Argob. In the bays about this, there are 
very large boulders under water, and it is a dangerous 
place for ships. The bottom is stony for some distance 
northward, but the stones are not so large. The same 
character prevails southward, until we reach the delta of 
Wady Samakh, where the bottom is of stiff clay. 

No Arabs approached within sight during my cruise 
about these latter places, and I landed and walked right 
and left, but always within a run of the boat. Yet the sur- 
vey was not so leisurely effected as it might have been had 
we hired a guard to ride on the bank while the Rob Eoy 
pored over the water. Nor have the Arabs of this plain a 
bad repute, but they are inquisitive, and might injure the 
boat without intending harm. On the shores of Bashan 
they might have captured us for a ransom, and that would 
have caused a loss of precious time. The hills after Kefr 
Argib and the Wady Shukayah come so near the sea-shore, 
and the coast seems to be so little adapted for a port (and 
without appearance outside of any channel inward), that 
we may well suppose the usual point of embarkation from 
the north-eastern coasts must have been one of the ports 
along the strip of beach already described. 

This is an interesting reflection ; for our Saviour often 
crossed to this side, and when He came over to Bethsaida 
Julias to feed the five thousand, and before he walked 
upon the sea at night, it must have been at one of these 
ports he landed, and from one of them the apostles em- 
barked, f 

* In Vandevelde's map this is called Duka, There is a rocky tell project- 
ing, and a few huts upon it, and large stones of ruins. On going near, I 
found none but women there. The ruins upon it, when examined by Wil- 
son, did not reveal any thing of importance. 

t It has even been urged by able writers that the plain of Butaia is the land 
of Genesareth (Stanlev, " S. and P." p. 386, note). As to the special bearing 

X 



322 



BETHSAIDA JULIAS. 



The sensation of being in such a neighborhood — and 
that, too, in one's own little boat and all alone — was pecu- 
liarly impressive. In other places, once made holy by His 
presence, it was the ground, and not the water, that claimed 
regard. But now a new element attracts our interest, and 
not the less so because the water itself had changed : for the 
precise position of an event on sea, or lake, or river seems 
to be unmoved by the shifting of the actual tide or current. 

Our course still trended south, and the terebinth marked 
in the map under the letter A of the word Butaia, and 
which had long seemed to be close to the water's edge, was 
now left behind in the plain. 

A respectable-looking Arab came to the door of a neat 
little tent here, and his wife took leave of him affectionate- 
ly as he mounted his well-fed donkey and went along the 
path with a friend. The Eob Koy approached, and we had 
a most pleasant talk about things in general. It was very 
remarkable how distinctly every word was heard, though 
our voices were not raised, even at 300 yards off; and it 
was very easy to comprehend how, in this clear air, a 
preacher sitting in a boat could address a vast multitude 
standing upon the shore. 

Bethsaida Julias was behind, if it stood where that green 
mound (Et Tell in our map) shines fertile in the sun.* The 
Bash an hills are on our left, but still the water is not much 
deeper near that side. At only one spot of the shore all 
round it, from this to near Tiberias (by the south), do the 
cliffs approach the water, and then it is not abruptly. My 
present inspection of this shore in front, and the hills over- 
hanging it, was chiefly to find where — for it is supposed to 
have been near this — the herd of swine ran into the sea, as 
related in the eighth chapter of St. Matthew. After most 

of some of the features of this shore in relation to the site of Capernaum, we 
shall return to the subject farther on. 

* It will be observed that this tell in Vandevelde is far too distant from the 
shore. Wilson does not consider that Et Tell is proved to be Julias. Jose- 
phus clearly places Julias on the east side ("Jewish War," book iv. ch. viii. 
sec. ii.), and marks the other eastern boundary of Palestine on the south at 
Somorrhon (Gomorrha?). 



OOZING STREAMS. 



823 



scrutinizing searcli I could not perceive any one locality 
which might be pointed to as the " steep place " in ques- 
tion ; and at this there was no small disappointment, though 
all difficulty about the matter was entirely removed on a 
subsequent occasion at another part of the coast. 

The underwood now thickens on the verge of the sea. 
The gravel bank is redder in color, and of larger pebbles 
and fewer shells. The streams flowing in here are numer- 
ous, but nearly all of them enter the lake in a remarkable 
way by forming a narrow strip of lagoon along the land 
side of the high gravel beach, and inside of this the water 
from the rivulet would filter silently and invisibly through 
the clean pebbly barrier without any break in the shore.* 
From a wide glen on our left there projects into the lake a 
tongue-shaped promontory about half a mile broad at its 
eastern base, and covered with thick bushes of many differ- 
ent kinds. Some of these are twenty and thirty feet high, 
and the flood-mark is distinct upon them all from three to 
four feet above the present level of the lake, while the roots 
of many dip into the water, and their thin polished branches 
wave over the surface. Several palm-trees were growing 
liere, with their roots in five feet of water, which seemed a 
very unusual position.f To skim along in the calm silence 
under the trees was delicious. The towers of Tiberias, on 
the other side of the lake, had long white reflections on the 
water, and the smooth slopes rose behind it where once 
was poured forth to refresh the whole world that sermon 
of texts, beginning with " Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The cleft in the 
chain of hills above me was the "Wady Semakh, and, ac- 
cording to the marking in the map, I expected to reach the 
mouth of the river before arriving at the end of its gravel 
tongue.:]: 

* Wady Sulam, "Wady Tellahyeh, and Wady Jerftiaiah, or (if Vandevelde 
be right) Jernaiah, all enter the lake in this way, being quite invisible from 
the water. 

t There are palm-trees at the north, south, east, and west sides of the lake. 
X From this point west to the shore near Magdala is the greatest breadth 
of the lake, 6f miles. 



824 



GERGESA. 




b£MAJ5.a KIVEE, NEAR GEEGESA. 



It was with some surprise, then, that this mouth was 
found to be not at one side of the tongue, but precisely at 
its end. This deviation of the map from the present coast- 
line was, however, readily explained by perceiving that the 
ground near the river is lower on the north shore than on 
the south, and that this part was submerged at the time the 
map was made. 

The mouth of this river, Semakh, is about sixty feet 
wide, and the curious scroll of sand 
at the extremity of the southern bank 
of it (like what we have remarked 
upon for the other inlets) is here in- 
tensified in a remarkable manner, and 
has a second interior scroll slightly 
less regular. These scrolls are shown 
in our sketch. The gravel here is 
minute and absolutely clean. The water gurgles with the 
tiniest ripples in the delicate angles of the mathematical 
figure at the end, the top of which is not two inches above 
the surface ; and the wonder is how so fragile an ornament 
can stand the wash of a single wave, and as to what be- 
comes of the whole when the lake swells deeper, some four 
feet over its present verge. 

We paddled up the river eastward until, at about two 
hundred yards, it was only two and three feet deep, with 
thick undergrowth on both sides, and numerous boulders 
in the channel. Pushing farther in, there was only four 
inches of water, and beyond this the canoe could not well 
float, being heavy with the materials for camping out and 
four days' food. Here I could see the ruins described by 
former travellers as the ancient Gergesa,*now called Kher- 
sa, and some of which are on each side of the river, and 
are close to the water. 

If Arabs had come at this time, they could have caught 
the Ingleez very readily ; but I had made up my mind to 
risk it, being now thoroughly interested in the voyage, and 
determined not to forego any important investigation at 

* As to this name, see post, chapter xxiii. 



A PAUSE. 



825 



such a point.* Therefore I landed and penetrated the 
thick jungle of canes, a wild and savage lair for any beast 
to live in. Some of these canes had evidently been cut 
down for thatching, or some other use, by the Arabs. One 
of the tallest that I cut with my knife was exactly thirty- 
two feet high. 

It was now time to cross the lake, steering for Tell Hoom,f 
whither the camp had been ordered to go. The water was 
perfectly calm, and I could see no sign of the Jordan flow- 
ing in the mid-lake, as has been sometimes reported ; but 
this will be noticed when we go farther south. The lake 
water was clear, but not very clear — not nearly so translu- 
cent as that of the Red Sea ; in fact, the bottom was never 
visible in depths beyond thirty feet.J 

A few — that is, a few hundred — waterfowl were in the 
middle of the lake — ducks, grebes, and gulls; also a bird 
like a cormorant, and one or two very shy pelicans. Half- 
way across to the land of Genesareth, the Eob Roy paused 
for one of those luscious draughts of pleasure which such 
a panorama yielded every time it was seen. On such 
occasions I could recline at ease in the boat — you w^ould 
no more roll out of the canoe than out of a comfortable 
sofa — and then my little pocket copy of St. John's Gospel 
w^as always the most vivid hand-book of the scenery 
around. Open the sixth chapter, and as you read verse by 
verse, the very places mentioned in them are on all sides 
in view. 

From that pure strand He " went over the sea," and 

* The inhabitants of the place we are now describing attacked and seized 
Lieutenant Anderson when he was found alone. 

t As it is pronounced thus, I see no good reason why it should be spelt 
"Tell Hum," Avhich is so likely to be called " Tell Humm.'' 

t The water of the Jordan from three miles above the mouth is dull in col- 
or, not exactly muddy, but with very fine matter in suspension. This color 
it had also from below the first bridge on the Hasbany, being varied in the 
north part of the Hooleh by a redder tinge of the Banias Eiver, and a color 
nearly black in Hooleh Lake, and then again purifying itself in its rapid run 
over rock after Jacob's Bridge, but again absorbing earthy matter in the Bu- 
taia plain. 



326 



TELL HOOM. 



along that plain " a great multitude followed Him." 
Among those hills He " went up into a mountain, and 
there he sat with his disciples," and fed the faint thou- 
sands with miraculous bread, and gave forth words of life 
for the millions of all hearers to the end of time. It was 
upon those heights He lingered on "a mountain himself, 
alone," till in the dark and in the storm, and somewhere 
close to the spot where I am now reading, they saw the 
same "Jesus walking on the sea." Faith is not, indeed, 
begotten by this vividness of places. Faith is of loftier 
birth than sight ; but faith may be nourished, if not engen- 
dered, by things seen, and a verse of the Bible which you 
have traced out thus is graven anew in the memory, with 
the earth and water round it for a visible framing to the 
nobler spiritual picture. The setting can never be worthy 
of the gem, still it may help our clumsy hands to hold the 
jewel. 

Christ's is a religion that came from heaven, but is 
meant for all places in the world, and for all people ; not 
for temples only, or shrines, or priests, or hermits, but for 
the breezy hill-side, and the work-day toWn, and the col- 
lier in the mine, and the sailor in the boat. All these need 
his love ; and until this is got, the richest man is needy, 
while the poorest who has pardon and peace has a wealth 
laid up of glory. 

The ensign at our camp was waving languidly in the 
sun, and the white tents stood out in contrast on the 
green grass by the deep black shore at Tell Hoom. The 
beach here is all of basalt stones, rounded by tumbling 
waves, but never smoothed. A fringe of oleanders, grow- 
ing in the water, screens the shore for fifty feet outward. 
In no part about this point is there any proper place for 
boats. The land is too rocky to beach them ; the water is 
too shallow to moor them ; the bottom is too stony to 
anchor them. There is no protection here from the worst 
winds, no pier, no harbor ; and where you can neither 
beach, nor moor, nor anchor a boat in safety, how can that 
be the port of a large town ? 



KERASEH. 



327 



The shore of Tell Hoom Cape slopes steep to a height of 
twenty feet. Behind that is flatter ground, all strewed with 
rough black stones. These are often grouped in mounds, 
as if once they had been walls ; but, after a diligent exami- 
nation of them, the conclusion we arrived at was that most 
of these grouped stones were mere inclosure-dikes, exactly 
like those near the cities of Bashan, and where flocks and 
produce were kept, and are now kept in Brak, as we have 
before described.^ Even if these rounded stones were once 
in the walls of houses, the thickness of such walls would 
be very great, else the stones would not stand, and thus 
a small house might leave large ruins. The fertile ground 
behind Tell Hoom would need many folds and store- 
places ; and though there are small ruins of hewn stone 
here and there among the vast masses of shapeless boul- 
ders, their number and position and dimensions do not (I 
think) indicate that any large village or town was here. 
But excavation has unearthed at this place the splendid 
sculptured stones of what is supposed to be a synagogue.f 
One would wdsh that this place may prove to be Ca- 
pernaum, and that the synagogue is the one where our 
Lord so often taught; but the evidence against this par- 
ticular site (to be adduced farther on) seems too strong to 
leave any such hope ; while we find once more how much 
easier it is to marshal the objections against each suggest- 
ed site than to produce direct evidence in favor of any 
one of them. 

A deep-set ravine from the mountains west of the sea 
winds down here, inclosing a considerable stream, which 
rolls the round boulders when the torrent is in flood. By 
this I mounted on and on, until the crags aloft were seen 
to be crowned by massive ruins, and at length I climbed 
to those of Keraseh. Captain Wilson and Lieutenant An- 

* Ante, chap, xi, 

t Careful and minute descriptions of these and photographs are published 
by the Palestine Exploration Fund. The building is not yet proved to be 
ancient. The wood-cut at p. 344 of "Buckingham's Travels" represents an 
octagonal building, which is not now to be seen, nor does he describe it. 



328 



FETE. 



derson first described this place ; and if this be Chorazin, 
it must surely be by a stretch of expression that we can 
say that town was " upon the lake."^ 

From Keraseh a great part of the lake is hidden. Its 
distance from the lake is at least two miles and a half 
by the present path, and only a mile less if measured 
in a straight line. The beautiful relics at Keraseh are 
shown in the photographs of the Palestine Exploration 
Fund (query, Society), and they include some beautiful nich- 
es, delicately chiselled out of the rough black basalt.f 

Crushing streams water these high -perched precipices, 
and under one of the few trees was a camel resting, and an 
Arab. Farther down, the tents of other Ishmaelites nes- 
tled in sheltered nooks, and men and women ran out to in- 
spect the lonely visitor with loud but not rude pressure for 
the hateful "backshish." Thence I rambled long upon 
the hills, but as these may be described by land travellers, 
we shall hasten back to the shore, and there we find our 
tents all gay with special decorations, festoons of oleander, 
hedges of bright yellow shrubs new-planted at the doors, 
huge bouquets of wild flowers grouped upon the table, 
singing, shouting, firing of guns, and a general hubbub of 
fete and gala, all improvised since my departure in the 
morning, because it happened to be the voyager's birthday, 
January 24. A huge roast turkey and plum - pudding 
graced the board, and opposite the door at night was a 
frame, supported on two poles, with forty-four wax tapers 
burning when the sun sank, and the muleteers whined 
their unmeasurable song until night enveloped the " fan- 
tasia," and the sea too went asleep. 

The bays and shore-line north of Tell Hoom had next 
to be examined up to the mouth of Jordan. It is difficult 

* De Saiilcy sajs that St. Jerome tells us Chorazin was two miles from Ca- 
pernaum, but ''in littore maris." Wey's map, in 1442, puts it east of Jor- 
dan, and so does Hondius's in 1624. Cruden says " Chorazin " means "the 
secret," or "here is a mystery," 

t Thomson does not appear to have seen these heautifal sculptured ruins, 
but only some boulders in the neighborhood, whicli he styles " the shapeless 
heaps of Chorazin" ("The Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. 8). 



SEARCH FOR PIERS. 



329 



to estimate the relative breadth and the indentation of a 
bay when viewed from either of its projecting boundaries 
or from a height in-shore.* Perhaps it is on this account 
that the bays all round this lake appeared to me deeper in 
their indentation than they are marked on the Ordnance 
Map, but in one or two instances I found by actual bear- 
ings that the coast is more indented than is shown. A 
very careful search was made for any semblance of a pier 
or breakwater near Tell Hoom. To use the place for 
boats, it can scarcely be supposed that some sort of pier was 
not absolutely necessary, and it could have been made very 
easily, for the stones are near at hand, and so many of 
them are round that they might easily be rolled down into 
the water, though they would form but a clumsy wall on 
land. Once submerged, they would never have been dis- 
placed. They could not be raised again from eight or ten 
feet under water. Their shape binding them between the 
rounded rocks at the bottom would prevent the waves 
from dislodging them, and if they are not to be seen there 
now, it is most probably because they never have been 
there. The search was somewhat difficult, because the 
wind was south, and the swell made it dangerous to lean 
much over the side of the canoe to put my eye close to the 
surface. However, the care bestowed was enough, I be- 
lieve, to insure that no ruins near the edge under water 
were unnoticed. Clear indications of a pier were found at 
the promontory marked B in the rough diagram of coast 
{post, p. 333) bearing E.IST.E. J E. from our camp (near C\ 

* If you look along the course of a river, the bend seems to be more sud- 
den than when you look across, for the divergence right and left from the 
medium line of the stream is seen in full breadth by looking endways, whereas 
the length of the curves is foreshortened, and the farther half, at any rate, is 
sure to seem more shai-ply crooked than it is in truth. "When you look at 
Westminster Bridge from Southwark Bridge, the bend of the Thames ap- 
pears t^vice as sudden as it does when viewed from the bridge at Charing 
Cross, and one can generally tell whether a traveller has judged of a lake's 
size from its side or its end, by observing whether he makes it too long or 
too broad. The sketch of the Sea of Galilee, seen from the north (and given 
ante^ p. 307), represents how much the size is foreshortened from north to 
south. 



330 



A BREEZE. 



4. 




and N. of Wady Kerazeh. These 
relics are shown alongside on a 
. ^ ^ ^ larger scale. The soundings are 
J^J^P-^/i 6- feet. The quay begins on 

"t^^j^" o shore, and part of it is above wa- 
ter, though in the lake. Beyond 
that the dotted part is submero^ed 

TINDER WATER, NEAR TELL HOOM. ^ ^ n 1 n 

two or three leet, and ten feet 
broad. At A in the middle of the wall (which is about 
four feet thick) there is one large stone reaching within 
six inches of the surface, and inside of this the water was 
calm, being sheltered.* 

For a time the search was suspended, as a brisk breeze 
from Bashan had freshened while we paddled along these 
bays, and the short " choppy " waves at Jordan's mouth 
were angry enough to require attention while crossing 
there. I ascended the Jordan again to wait for the wind's 
pleasure if it might calm down, but instead of that, the sea 
rose more and more, and at last heavy clouds in the east 
burst into a regular gale. Fortunately my canoe was in 
her lightest trim to-day, but the waves on the lee-shore 
were exactly upon her beam, which is always the most 
awkward direction when the wind catches the tiny craft 
just on the thin crest of a breaker. For some time I hesi- 
tated to start, knowing well that, once in the middle of it, 
there would be no place to take shelter at until we could 
reach Tell Hoom, about two miles away, and then it would 
be very doubtful how one could land upon that rough 
shore wnth such a sea. Hunger (the only plague of strong 
health) forced me at last to the journey, and having tightly 
braced up every thing to the task, the Rob Roy launched 
on the Jordan and dashed over the bar, having there re- 
ceived one good ducking to start with, so that no fear re- 
mained that any thing up to my shoulders could get more 
wet than it was. It was well known that the waves far 
out from land are longer and more regular than in shore, 
so our course was in oblique lines, giving a very wide 
* Farther on we shall notice a few more traces. 



STORM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE. 331 

bertla to each headland; and as this was the first occasion on 
which our present canoe had to stem a really high sea (for in 
the Eed Sea we had been running before the breeze), it was 




STOEM ON THE 6EA OF GALILEE. 

with great satisfaction I found that her full floor near each 
end made her extremely buoyant and safe in her plunges.* 

* One of the numerous advantages which a canoe has beyond what can 
ever be had in a rowing-boat, is the power of using the paddle just at the criti- 
cal moment on the top of a wave, when two entirely opposite dangers have 
to be encountered. For, on the one hand, if, when rising on a billow, you 
incline the deck to windward too soon, a drenching sea from the wave-crest 
will, of course, be received heavily, and stagger the whole fabric for several 
seconds. On the other hand, if, to avoid that danger, you delay to lean up 
to the wind as you mount the sloping side of a wave, the full force of the 
crest-Avater is thrown against the bottom of the boat on the weather side, and 
just at the moment when the wind also catches the hull (and your own body) 
with its greatest force, so as to make every possible provision for a complete 
capsize. In an open boat, of course, both these two pleasant alternatives may 
come together, for while the bow of the boat is pressed by the wind, just as 
it tops the wave-crest, the full body of curving green water descends into the 
stern, and rushes at once to the lee side, to help the poor vessel to roll over. 

The canoe-man meets this double danger with the enormous advantage of 
looking it in the face, and with the addition of a long and powerful hand, the 



332 



SEARCHING BELOW. 



The wind whistled now, and sea-gulls screamed as they 
were borne on the scud. Thick and ragged clouds drifted 
fast over the water, which became' almost green in color, 
as if it were on the salt sea, and the illusion was heighten- 
ed by the complete obscurity of the distance, for the other 
side of the lake was quite invisible. 

The wind shifted about as the Eob Eoy came to. the 
offing at Tell Hoom, and she " hove to," for it was not safe 
to turn her in such a cross-sea. The tents were flapping 
and fluttering, and straining at their strong cords. The 
ensign crackled sharply in the gusts that drove its free end 
upward, as the wind-current was deflected aloft by the 
sloping shore below. Hany and his men stood picturesque- 
ly on high points, shouting all sorts of excellent advice, 
only it was quite unheard, and the waves burst in upon the 
oleanders, and broke high and noisy against the rugged 
rocks. After consideration, it seemed to be a clear case for 
the last resort in landing at such a place, so I jumped out 
and we floated safe ashore, the boat being all right, of course, 
the moment my feet found the bottom, when I could drag 
the Rob Roy light upon the beach to be grasped by Hany, 
who said he had been at this place a hundred times, but 
never saw so severe a storm upon the lake. 

The storm lasted next day, and I spent the hours on 
shore, but on January 26th it was calm, and again I return- 
ed to the bays north of Tell Hoom, because although noth- 
ing had seemed to indicate there any harbor in water deep 
enough for a port, yet the waves had prevented careful 
sounding, and sometimes even made it dangerous to ap- 
proach the shore, where rocks just concealed by the water, 
when at rest, were bared in the trough of each wave, and 
showed their pointed tops quite hard enough to stave in a 
boat if cast upon them. Besides the pier described at p. 
330, and which is at B on the sketch here given, there is 

broad end of his paddle, to which he can apply the entire force of both his 
arms, while he reaches the blade deep down on the lee side of his quivering 
craft, and so applies from forty to fifty pounds of pressure only for a second or 
two, but just long enough to lift her gallantly over the foam. 



CURIOUS STONES. 



333 




COAST AT TELL HOOM. 



a line of big stones forming a sort 
of wall about twenty feet long and 
ten feet broad at (7, projecting IST.E., 
also fainter relics at A. Going 
south-west past Tell Hoom again, 
we find at I) some traces of several 
large dressed stones in three and 
four feet water near the old tower 
at E, but they are not laid regular- 
ly, and there are many smaller ones on shore just on the 
verge, so that it seems as if all are from the ruins above. 
One stone, a cube of two feet, looks a little like part of a 
pier, and two others not far off resemble it. JTone of these 
structures, however, all the way hither from Jordan mouth, 
could protect even one fishing-boat in wind. A remark- 
able stone pictured below was noticed at F. It was on the 
verge of the water, and half submerged. In times of full 
lake it would be unnoticed, but a wave receding happened 
to reveal it as we passed. The shape is an oval, about four 
feet long . and two feet broad ^ 
(not so smooth as in this 
drawing). In the middle is 
a deep cut, a foot broad, ^y^—-' 

TP , . . , BTONE IN THE WATER AT TELL HOOM. 

and irom two to six inches 

deep, leaving a sort of neck between two bulging ends. 
At first this seemed to be a stone for an anchor, but I 
think it would be too heavy for that. For a mooring it 
would be too light, and the sharply defined indentation 
would not be required for either of these purposes. The 
waves were too high to allow me to examine it better. 
It remains for the next land traveller to bring this relic to 
No. 9 Pall Mall East. Not far off and south of it is an- 
other stone hammer-faced, and both of them are of black 
basalt like the rest. 

Farther west there are several small capes or natural 
piers, but not one artificial group longer than twenty feet, 
and these usually with only four or five feet of water along- 
side. Some of the small bays that seem best for boats here 



334 



NO PORT. 



are quite shallow, and studded with dangerous rocks only 
two feet under water. The islet past the old tower, which 
looks like the remains of a landing-place, has very little 
water round it. Two curious clumps or bunches of thick 
canes stand out in bold relief in this bay as islets. The 
first had five feet and the second six feet of water along- 
side. It appeared to me not unlikely that these may have 
originally grown out of the wrecks of boats, and they 
would thus accumujate earth about their roots for a perma- 
nent hold. I have never observed any thing like these 
before in any lake. 

Pococke speaks of seeing (most probabty here) " a round 
port for small boats. ""^ Other persons have noticed the 
same appearance, and undoubtedly the semblance of a lit- 
tle harbor is presented by the points of rocks and detached 
stone projecting above water when the lake is low. But 
my visit to this spot entirely dispelled any such illusion. 
The points belong to a few of the highest of a thousand 
enormous rocks and detached boulders dotted over the 
whole surface below. There is no room whatever for 
boats to pass in here, much less to lie at peace protected. 
These rocks are of all irregular shapes, but very many 
have sharp edges, and not a few are whitish in color. They 
are in water of all depths, even to twenty feet, and their 
summits rise to a few inches above the surface, and to every 
less height, without any appearance of regular design, ex- 
cept what may perchance seem formal in shape when a few 
are associated by accident together. Thus, what might be 
called a " port" from the shore is, in fact, a most treacher- 
ous reef, and the whole of the area about it for a quarter 
of a mile square is, perhaps, the most dangerous part of 
the lake — and certainly is statio maJefida carinisy 

The first beach of sand and gravel west from Tell Hoom 
seems to be a good one, but that bay is full of sunken 
rocks most awkwardly placed. 

In the next much smaller bay is the first soft strand 
where fishing-boats could venture to beach, and it is pro- 

* Vol. ii. p. 72 (fol.). 



TABIGA. 



835 



tected from wind by a natural breakwater * The beach 
itself is a pretty bit of strand, with whiter pebbles and 
shells, and the shore was perfectly clean from drift-wood or 
debris, although a whole day's gale had been blowing right 
into it until this morning. Eain and mist came mildly 
down now, and I drifted along with my white umbrella 
hoisted in a most lubberly fashion, but very comfortable. 

Bounding again the next point close upon Tabiga 
(Bethsaida), we find great rocks projecting from the shore 
into the waves, while verdure most profuse teems over 
them, and long streamers of " maiden's hair," and richest 
grasses, and ferns, briers, and moss, wave in the breeze and 
pendent trail upon the water. This part of the coast is 
entirely different from any other round the lake. The 
water is five and six feet deep right up to the rocks. The 
rocks are thickly incrusted with a moist trickling petrified 
gray substance, and this stalagmite projects so far over the 
edge that the' Eob Koy easily went beneath the rocks, 
where the clear water had hollowed out caverns, and was 
sounding within a deep-toned note as every swell of the 
sea beat upward in the dark recesses. Gray steam-like 
vapor rises from the surface here, and exhales from the 
streaming rocks above us, for the water is hot, and bursts 
from the ground a little way off, and bears in solution to 
the lake a saturated current of limestone, which deposits 
its crust as the stream is cooled, and irrigates the rich 
vegetation with a- tepid gush, a powerful stimulant to the 
rank tangled herbage. The rocks thus grow horizontally 
by accretions from this stream, and roots, leaves and stalks 
stand out petrified, while their neighbors sprout above, 
being forced into excessive life. One can readily under- 
stand how the warm waves of the lake wear away the 
lower parts of these rocks, while the upper edges are grow- 
ing sideways, so that I could thrust in my paddle its full 
length of seven feet under these table-like structures, 
while above water some three or four feet thickness of a 

* Vandevelde was evidently ignorant of this beach and others near it 
(" Syria and Palestine," vol. ii. p. 399). 



336 



BETHSAIDA. 



calcareous plateau was supported by thin pillars, and just 
lapped by the wavelets beneath. 

Here it was well to stop, and no more charming spot 
could be chosen for our well-earned luncheon. This surely 
is Bethsaida, the " house of food, or hunters, or snares," ac- 
cording to Cruden's derivation, and in all three renderings 
plainly meaning the " fisherman's home." 

Tabiga is the Arab name for the mills and the few houses 
and huts that mark the spot. We are not in view of these 
just now, but the sound of rivulets and cascades, and the 
musical dripping of water from the long-pointed stalactites 
in the caverns beside us, and the low rumbling, splashing, 
tremulous beat of the mill-wheels working unseen, blend a 
mixed harmony round the sunny little cove where the Eob 
Koy rests on the rushes, while her captain reclines at ease 
with limbs outstretched on deck and every muscle lax. 
One or two quiet-looking natives soon found out the canoe, 
and sat in silence, smiling through the long grass at our 
floating feast. It gave them pleasure to look on, and it did 
no harm to me. 

The place soon asserted its right to the name Bethsaida 
by the exceeding abundance of the fish we saw tumbling 
in the water.* The hot springs flowing in here over these 
rocks, and a little farther on in larger volume over a clean 
brown sand, warm all the ambient shallows for a hundred 
feet from shore, and, as much vegetable matter is brought 
down by the springs, and probably also insects which have 
fallen in, all these dainties are half cooked when they enter 
the lake. Evidently the fish agree to dine on these hot 
joints, and, therefore, in a large semicircle, they crowd the 
water by myriads round the warm river-mouth. Their 
backs are above the surface as they bask or tumble and 

* Vandevelde, however, considers that Bethsaida lies at Khan Minyeh 
(vol. ii. p. 395), but he is almost unsupported in this ; and Thomson places 
it on the Jordan mouth. The latter supposition I find to be so entirely ir- 
reconcilable with the directions and distances of the apostles' voyages (con- 
sidered afterwards) that I have omitted it altogether. He derives Tabiga 
from " Dabbaga," the Arabic for " tanneiy, " and says the water is " precise- 
ly the kind best adapted for that business." 



GENESARETH. 



337 



jostle crowded in the water. They gambol and splash, and 
the calm sea, fringed by a reeking cloud of vapor, has be- 
yond this belt of living fish a long row of cormorants feed- 
ing on the half-boiled fish as the fish have fed on insects 
underdone. White gulls poise in flocks behind the grebes 
or cormorants, and beyond these again ducks bustle about 
on the water or whirl in the air. The whole is a most cu- 
rious scene, and probably it has been thus from day to day 
for many thousand years. I paddled along the curved line 
of fishes' backs and flashing tails. Some leaped into the 
air, others struck my boat or my paddle. Dense shoals 
moved in brigades as if by concert or command. But the 
hubbub around in the water, and the feathered mob in the 
sky, were all unheeded now, for we had come in full view 
of the land of Genesareth."^ 

* Stanley says thac the name "Gennesar" may be from Gani, "garden," 
and Sar, "prince, "the " Gardens of Princes," alluding, as the Rabbis allege, 
to the princes of Nephtali ("S. and P." p. 375, quoting Lightfoot). Neu- 
bauer (p. 215), besides this derivation, cites, "rich garden" as a meaning, 
in the Midrasch, Chinnereth is identified with Sennabris and Beth Yerah. 

Y 



338 



BETHSAIDA BEACH. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Bethsaida Beach. — Of old. — Evidence. — Bias. — Sermon afloat. — Stones. — 
Fishermen. -^Ships and Boats. — Distinction. — An Explanation. — Present 
Boats. —The ' ' Pillow. "— SaiHng-boat. —Fish. —Nets. — Hooks. —Cliff. — 
" Scorpion Rock." — " Capharnaoum " Ain et Tin.— Other Streams. — The 
Coracinus. — Other Fish. — The hot Springs. — The Aqueduct. — Josephus's- 
Fountain. — At Tabiga. 

It may be irksome to those who can not imagine some- 
thing of the inward thrill of a voyager at such a time to 
hear from another how fast his heart beat then, but for 
those who can even a little realize a delight like this, per- 
haps the mere outward picture of the scene will be enough. 

Bethsaida beach recalled bright pictures of our Saviour's 
life. For here it was, as seems to me, that the first and 
shortest sermon of Christianity was preached, " Behold the 
Lamb of Grod." The hearers were but two, and both of 
them heard to purpose (John i.) ; and of these Andrew 
found next day his "own brother Simon," whom Jesus 
christened Cephas (a " stone " — not " the Eock ") ; and after 
him He " findeth Philip," who " was of Bethsaida the city of 
Andrew and Peter;" and Philip "findeth Nathanael," and 
brought him with the invitation "Come and see." Here 
was the cradle of Christianity, and years afterwards here 
again was "the third time that Jesus showed himself to his 
disciples after that he was risen from the dead."* 

Almost the same persons are this time on the shore again : 
Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanael, and James, and John ; 
but only "that disciple whom Jesus loved" could at first 
recognize his Lord. Peter, who had before cast himself 
into the same sea to go to Jesus, now did so again ; but the 
Lord now thrice called him " Simon," as if the unstable 
one had by his threefold denial lost his better title. On 

* John xxi. It is only by this Evangelist, who was present, that the 
scene is relatetl. 



OF OLD. 



339 



the shore were coals, and food thereon. "The banquet is 
prepared. Shall He issue the invitation, 'Come, all things 
are ready?' Nay, something still is wanting! The Al- 
mighty Provider has yet some element of bliss to add ere 
the feast is complete. 'Bring,' he says, 'of the fish ye have 
caught.' 

The central figure of this group was a new one in his- 
tory — the risen Saviour. Do we believe that He rose again ? 
The rest of the Gospel seems to follow with our answer, 
Yes, or No. 

H indeed He rose, the narrative of his life becomes con- 
sistent and credible, and the sanction of his teaching is 
from on high; but "if Christ be not raised, your faith is 
vain."f 

The evidence for the resurrection is more tangible, gen- 
eral, and distinct, than that for any other miracle, and it 
was a belief in this cardinal fact of history that was written 
upon and preached most constantly and .most urgently by 
the apostles,:]: 

The evidence for the resurrection of Christ was precisely 
that which common men could best know at the time as 
witnesses, and common men now can best understand as 
testimony. Did Christ evidently die? Did Christ evi- 
dently live again? Surely no questions could be more 
plain for those who knew Him to decide. In an argument 
on this subject with an unbeliever, after other evidence had 
been discussed, a Christian read as follows : " He was seen 
of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom some re- 
main unto this present; but the greater part are fallen 

* "Memories of Gennesaret," by the Eev. Dr. Macduff, p. 255 — a book 
full of beautiful descriptions of the Gospel scenes upon this lake and its 
shores. 

t 1 Cor. XV. 14, and again 17. . 

X Though a regular attendant at church, the writer has heard only one 
.sermon upon this subject. This was a powerful sermon by the Dean of Can- 
terbury, in the cathedral, to a very large congregation, chiefly of Volunteers 
assembling for the Dover review. If barristers omitted their best evidence in 
addressing a jury, as clergymen do in addressing their people, they would get 
few clients and no verdicts. 



uo 



BIAS. 



asleep." The unbeliever quickly interposed — "Yes, it 
was very convenient that most of the alleged witnesses 
were dead. If it had been stated publicly that most of 
them were then alive, the evidence of the fact would have 
been very powerful." Then the Christian read the words 
correctly, as Paul wrote them (1 Cor. xv. 6) — " After that 
he was seen by above five hundred brethren at once, of 
whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are 
fallen asleep." 

This truth before the world for so many hundred years, 
how little it has spread! Yes; but the truth that "hon- 
esty is the best policy " has been much longer asserted ; 
and it has progressed just as little, though no one denies 
the maxim on logical grounds. A score of sanitary max- 
ims -are made perfectly evident to our reason, but pleasure 
for the moment keeps the will from abiding by what the 
reason is convinced of"^ 

The Holy Spirit of God must do tJiis work. 

"Neither would they he persuaded, though one rose from 
the dead." 

In an age or community where many profess to be "be- 
lievers," there is at least distinction to be gained, if not sat- 
isfaction, by believing little and distrusting much. There 
is dignity in asserting independence, and you can be pi- 
quant if you are not orthodox. On the other hand, it is 
a pleasant excitement to believe in unseen facts, if we are 
thereby associated with the unseen, the mj^sterious, and the 
unknown, which may be, and probably is, so much more 
sublime than every-day life. An emotional bias warps our 
reason when we try to use that upon propositions which 
must affect our whole standard of life and determine the 

* It is well said in the " Spectator " (Oct. 16, 1869) : "It seems to us that 
the constraint to believe which the study of Christ's life produces is hardly an 
intellectual constraint, even where it is most strongly felt — that, judging by 
the intellectual state of the argument solely, if that were possible, men may 
be strictly reasonable who pronounce the evidence insufficient as well as those 
who pronounce it adequate, and that the real force of the belief depends upon 
an undetinable personal impression produced by Christ on the spirit which 
can never be adequately translated into an intellectual form." 



SERMON AFLOAT. 



341 



centre of gravity of our system. If the devout man forgets 
to-allow that this bias may warp him towards credulity and 
superstition, he will soon be reminded of the fact by his 
skeptical friend, and he ought not to ignore the tendency. 
But may we not also tell the cold schoolman that he too 
has a most powerful emotion warping his deductions when 
his logic deals with arguments that may convict him of 
pride, foolishness, and ingratitude, and would force him to 
submit his will to a Being whom he has always put far off? 
Feeling this want of some cuUiis — if not some Pope — he 
has set up for worship that impalpable thing called Truth, 
which is the pretty name given to the idol that clever men 
have been carving at (or paring away) for thousands of 
years, and which is shapeless still ; nor can they ever agree 
as to how many heads it has, though the noise of their 
work goes on — the noise of the crow-bar and the pickaxe, 
rather than of the hammer and the trowel. In short, the 
religious man confesses that he must beware of believing 
in what he wishes may be true, but the philosopher some- 
how forgets to confess that he has the prejudice of pride, 
the superstition that kneels before human intellect, and a 
carnal heart, which persuades us to doubt what it dislikes. 

Another scene in the Holy Life which probably hap- 
pened on this beach is related by Luke (chap, v.) where, 
when the multitude pressed 'upon the Great Preacher "to 
hear the word of Grod," He entered into one of "two ships 
standing by the lake." This ship, we are told, " was Si- 
mon's," and Christ "prayed him that he would thrust out 
a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the peo- 
ple out of the ship." Then followed the miraculous draught 
of fishes. As the ship was Simon's, and his house was at 
Bethsaida, and as his partners were gone out of the ships, 
" and were washing their nets," we are at once brought 
close to this very spot where the fishermen now do the 
very same thing ; and only a few yards away are the shoals 
of fish we have seen by the hot springSo^ Just here, too, 

* The fishermen told me that, though fish are in other parts of the lake, 
they are always most plentiful here. 



342 



STONES, 



the beach rises rapidly, and there is deep water within a 
few yards of the shore, while at the same time a multitude 
of hearers could place themselves so as to see the Saviour 
in the boat, and there is no such natural church along the 
other coast by Genesareth. On another occasion the 
Lord again taught the people out of a ship, while "the 
whole multitude stood on the shore;"* and often in other 
ways did He manifest forth his glory when floating on the 
water both in storm and calm. 

Continuing my voyage, I could discern just in front, and 
under a looming cliff (almost the only one all round the 
lake which rises sheer out of the water) my tents now 
pitched at Genesareth, and the ensign drooping with no 
wind. But we need not hasten to our camp, so let us 
linger on the way. 

The beautiful white beach of Bethsaida is gracefully bent 
round its pretty little cove in a gentle slope of gravel, shells, 
and purest sand. No footstep this morning has marked 
the tender surface smoothed and laved once more by yes- 
terday's waves. "The beach on which the limpid waters 
still gently ripple retains the same pearly margin on which 
was spent the childhood of the young fishermen of B.eth- 
saida."f The bay is admirably suited for boats. It shelves 
gradually ; the anchorage is good, and boats can be safely 
beached. Kocks project at the south-west end about fifty 
yards beyond those seen above water. These would form 
a good protection to the harbor. There appears to be no 
jetty. The water is deep, and nearly free from boulders 
until near the south-west end. Evidently the Jews and 
Eomans, who successively owned these coasts for many 
years, thought more about building palaces on shore than 
about removing rocks from the water. Here also we no- 
ticed a few large stones, arranged as in the sketch. These 
are in two feet of water (even when the lake is low), and 
though arranged in the manner of " fish-traps," they could 

* Matt. xiii. ; Mark iv. In this sermon were the parables, beginning with 
that of the sower. See note upon the size of ship used, post, p. 345. 
t * ' Memories of Gennesaret, " Preface. 



FISHERMEN". 



843 




UNDEK WATEB, NEAB BETH8AIDA. 



scarcely be used for these 
unless the water was much 
lower. 

On th e east edge of Beth- 
saida ba}^, and close to the 
water, upon a smooth hard 
bank of grass, very near 

the gushings of the clear hot stream, a fishing-boat was 
drawn up on land beside two fishers' huts, made entirely 
of reed matting, and not unlike the huts in Hooleh, but 
smaller, neater, and more clean. About a dozen fishermen 
instantly came out. Their delight and amazement as to 
what this canoe could be, and what was I, had a spice of 
superstitious doubt in their stare, yet we speedily became 
good friends, and I invited them to visit me at the camp 
in the evening. 

The subject of fishing and fishers' boats was, of course, 
of great interest in connection with this beautiful lake, 
where, in old times, among the fishers, were those men 
whose faithful pens have written what goes to our hearts 
and gives us the marrow of life. 

When the Sea of Galilee was fringed by towns and vil- 
las, trees and cornfields, then the water was covered by 
little vessels sailing about in hundreds.* It is not easy to 
ascertain what was the size of the largest of these vessels ; 
but probably, as the distances were short, and the ports were 
shallow, the boats were not larger than they are now, say 
about thirty feet long and seven feet beam. The number 
of them employed then on the lake will be shown very 
well from the following curious narrative related by Jose- 
ph us, of what occurred when he was occupied busily in 
keeping quiet the district along the lake. At that time 
Tarichese and Tiberias were in frequent contention, and 
one of the revolts of the latter city was quelled by a strata- 
gem of Josephus. He was then at Tarichese, and without 
soldiers ; but he ordered a large fleet of ships, 230 in num- 

* It was then a very populous district, and, as Stanley says, might be re- 
garded as the "manufacturing districts " are spoken of by us in England. 



844 



SHIPS AND BOATS. 



ber, to sail, eacli with four men for a crew.* These he 
kept so far from Tiberias that the people there thought the 
vessels were full of armed men, and so thej surrendered to 
him all their 600 senators, who were sent over the lake, 
while Josephus demanded the chief instigator of the revolt, 
one Clitus. He commanded his own lieutenant, Levius, 
to cut ofP this man's hand ; and, as he hesitated to do this 
alone, Josephus, enraged, prepared to go ashore himself to 
do it, and only relented so far as to leave the poor fellow 
his right hand if with that he would cut off his left, which 
feat of arms he did at once with, his own sword, and the 
people were thus awed into obedience. 

When Tarichese was besieged by land, the inhabitants re- 
tired aboard ships, by which also they were able to attack 
from the sea the Eomans then on the shore. Finally, the 
ships fled, and Josephusf tells us that Titus quickly got 
ready vessels wherein to pursue, "because there was great 
plenty of materials and a great number of artificers also 
and the description of the battle on the lake is then given, 
which colored the water with blood, and strewed the shore 
with corpses. 

With respect to the size of vessels formerly used in the 
lake, two words are employed in the New Testament, 
ttXoiov {ploion) for the " ship," or larger vessel, and irXoiapLov 
{ploiainon) for the smaller one, or " boat." Thus the " ship " 
from which Christ taught the people on shore (Mark iv. 1) 
was ttXolov ; and, evidently referring to the same vessel, 

* Josephus, "Jewish War," book ii. ch. xxi. sec. viii. Whiston remarks 
that these vessels are constantly called ^^vTjeg, 7T?Mia, and dKacpTj, i. e., plainly 
ships " ("Life of Josephus," sect, xxxiv., note). In another place Josephus 
quotes Menander as relating an expedition at sea, when the Phoenicians 
supplied sixty ships (vavg), and 800 men to row them, or about ten oars for 
each (" Antiq. of the Jews, "book ix. ch. xiv. sec. ii.), so that even on the 
salt sea mere barges were employed as fleets of war. 

t " Je-wish War," book iii. ch, ix. and x. It seems to be stated that Titus 
and Trajan, Vespasian and Agrippa, Avere present at this fight ; and Clarke 
says Vespasian was on board the fleet, but I do not gather that from Josephus. 
However, this naval fight was prolonged for some time, and was probably the 
last great display of ships upon this lake. Nowadays one single Armstrong 
gnn at Gamala would command the whole Sea of Tiberias. 



SHIPS AND BOATS. 



verse 36 says, and thej took him even as he was in the 
ship " (ttXoiov) ; " and there were also with him other little 

^hips " {irXoiapiov).'^ 

Again, when (Mark iii. 9) "He spake to his disciples 
that a small ship should wait on him," it was TrXoiapioy; 
and after his resurrection, when the disciples "entered into 
a ship " (John xxi. 8) ttXoiop is used ; but those who drag- 
ged the full net to shore "came in a little ship " (verse 8), 

TrXuicipioy. 

In the several accounts of the voj^age in which our Lord 
was seen walking on the sea, the ship used by the apostles 
is called ttXoiov fourteen times ;f but in John, vi. 22:j: we 
read, " The day following, w4ien the people which stood 
on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other 
boat there save that one whereunto the disciples were en- 
tered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the 
boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone," here the 
word TtXoiapLoy is twice used for the " boat " into which the 
disciples had. entered. 

At first sight there thus appears to be a confusion be- 
tween the words for "boat" and "ship;" and if it could 
not be otherwise explained, § we might suggest that the ap- 
plication of both words to the same vessel does not show 
that their technical meanings were not distinct; for among 
ourselves, even in so nautical a country as England, land- 
folk use the words a "ship," a "barque," and even a " cut- 
ter " and a " boat," for the same thing seen upon the water, 

* Griesbach, however, seems to retain here the terai rr/otov in both in- 
stances. As the pronunciation of these words may interest some readers, it 
has been given in common letters, following the good, example set by the 
present Premier in his last book. 

t Matthew xiv. 13, 22, 24, 32, 33 ; Mark vi. 32, 45, 47, 51, 54. John ^-i. 
17, 19, 21. Luke, who was an accurate writer about ship matters (see note, 
p. 362) uses tzIolov for the general word always, except in Acts xxvii. 41, 
when he uses vav^ (naus). The ship's boat (ver, 36), he calls GKacprj (slcaffe). 

X The other incidents of the Apostles' voyage are discussed in om* next 
chapter. 

§ Stanley (" S. and P." p. 379, note) seems to consider this double use of 
the words shows they were not so ditFerent in meaning, remarking that it is 
the tendency of modern Greek to substitute diminutives everywhere. 



346 • , DISTINCTION. 

while each of these words, used technically, has a distinct 
meaning to the sailor, who, if he desires to speak of the 
floating thing in general, will call it a " vessel," or " sail," 
or " craft," but never a "sloop " or a "barque." 

But I venture to suggest an explanation which may not 
onl}^ clear up the difficulty but throw light also upon other 
parts of the narrative, and vindicate once more the extreme 
accuracy of the 'New Testament even in minute particu- 
lars. In John's account of the transaction, he says the dis- 
ciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a " ship," 
and went over the sea towards Capernaum; "and it was 
now dark, and Jesus was not come to them " (verse 17). 
Now, this last expression seems to show that they expect- 
ed Jesus to come to them ; probably, therefore, they waited 
in their "ship" before or even after they had weighed 
anchor, expecting their Master to come ; and for this He 
would be expected to use a small "boat," whereby to reach 
the " ship," as in a rising sea the ship could not easily 
come to shore. 

Entirely consistent wnth this is the expression that next 
day* " the people saw that there was no boat there save 
that one whereunto his disciples were entered, and that 
Jesus went not with his disciples into the hoat for this 
tells us that the disciples themselves used a "boat," no 
doubt, to go out to the " ship " (which would be more like- 
ly left at anchor than on shore, or even in port, for they 
had all left it), while it says that the people saw that Christ 
did not go into the " boat " with them, and that " none other 
boat"f was there by which He could have gone on board 
the ship unperceived. Still further, this use of both boat 
and ship on the occasion shows the reason why the Evan- 
gelist considered it necessary to state afterwards that "other 
boats " {irXoiapLo) Came from Tiberias (probably running 
into shelter before the same gale which was for the apos- 
tles' ship "contrary"), to show how it was that enough 

* For if by the "boat" was meant the "ship" that had gone away the 
ilay before, the people could not see ' ' that one " the ' ' next day, " 
t Griesbach reads irXoiov here. 



PEESENT BOATS. 



347 



" boats " were now there to put the people on board when 
" they took shipping " (ships, TrXota), then still* at anchor 
off the shore.f 

Turning now to the lake and its boats, as seen in the 
present days, how great is the falling ofi" in the number, 
when for a long time there was not even one boat on the 
lake !:{: From inspection, I came to the conclusion that in 
1869 there are three fishing-boats and two at the ferry, or 
five in all, besides the ferry-boat at Semakh. It is the 
absurdly prohibitive tax upon boats which alone prevents 
these from multiplying. Nominally, the rent the fishers 
pay for the right to fish at Bethsaida is £100 per annum. 

* For it is not said that the apostles' was the only " ship" there, but that 
the boat they used was the only "boat" then available, and it does not men- 
tion the arrival of " ships," but of " boats," from Tiberias. 

f The recent publication of Tauchnitz's 1000th volume, the New Testa- 
ment in our authorized version, with the readings of the three MSS., more 
ancient than those available to our translators, is a very great boon to all 
readers of the Bible, and it is enhanced by the excellent preface of Tischen- 
dorf. Applying this new comment to our text, we find that the passage 
John vi. 22-24, is given by the Sinai MS. as follows: "The day folloAving, 
when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was 
none other boat there save that whereunto the disciples of Jesus were entered, 
and that Jesus went not with them into the boat, but that his disciples were 
gone away alone. When therefore the boats came from Tiberias, which 
was nigh unto where they did also eat bread, after that the Lord had given 
thanks, and when they saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, 
they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus." 

[The Alexandrine MS. omits the first ' ' when " of our version, and the 
Vatican and Alexandrine MSS. have "save one" instead of " save that one," 
and omit the words "whereunto . . . entered."] 

This reading does not render our explanation of the word "boat," as used 
in both versions, less probable, although it seems to point to another place, if 
not to another time, for a miraculous feeding of a multitude. 

+ The following shows the state of the navy of this sea in various years, 
according to travellers' statements : 

In A.D. 1738, Pococke found one boat on the lake of Genesareth. In a.d. 
1806, Seetzen saw one boat, but it was useless ; 1812, Burkhardt, the only 
boat had fallen to pieces in 1811 ; 1817, Richardson, two boats; 1818, Irby 
and Mangles, "no boat whatever;" 1822, Berggren, no boat; 1822, Buck- 
ingham, "not a boat nor a raft large nor small;" 1829, Prokesch, no boat; 
1834, 1835, Smith, one boat ; 1838, Robinson, one boat ; 1852, Vandevelde, 
one ; 1856, Newbold, one ; 1857, Thomson, no boat, once only in his other 
visits he saw a sail ; 1869, Macgregor, six boats besides the Rob Roy. 



348 



THE "pillow." 



The revenue guard I noticed in a tent on a wild cliff, v^ith 
a little flag, like a colored rag, hanging over it. His ra- 
pacious hands carry away 20, 40, even 60 per cent, of the 
fishers' hard-earned gains ; and who can bear up against 
such extortion ? 

The boats now used in the lake by the fishers are all 
about the same size, rowing five oars, but very clumsy- 
ones, and with a very slow stroke. Generally only three 
oars were in use, and I much regret that I failed to remark 
whether there was a rudder, but I think there was none. 
Their build is not on bad lines, and rather " ship-shape," 
with a flat floor, likely to be a good sea-boat, sharp and 
lising at both ends, somewhat resembling the Maltese. 
The timbers are close and in short pieces, the planks 
" carvel built," and daubed with plenty of bitumen, for 
that is readily obtained here.* The upper streak of the 
boat is covered with coarse canvas, which adhei^es to the 
bitumen, and keeps it from sticking to the crew when they 
lean upon it. The waist is deep, and there are no stern 
sheets, but a sort of stage aft. As there appears to be no 
reason to suppose that the Turks should have altered, or 
at an}^ rate improved, the Jewish boat on the lake, it is 
impossible not lo regard the modern fishers' boat of Gali- 
lee with great interest, and to people it at once with an 
apostolic crew. But the part of the boat on the stern has 
a special and sacred attraction to our gaze, for the Bible 
tells us that He who " never slumbers nor sleeps " was 
once in a ship on this lake " asleep on a pillow. ''f The 
raised platform already mentioned would m(;st probably 

* The wicker boats on the Euphrates are mere baskets, an inch thick with 
pitch. Xoah's ark was probably made of interwoven trees cased thus with 
binimen "within and without," and a most serviceable plan this is Avhen 
mere flotation is the puiiDOse, without the strain from masts or engines, or 
hea-sy seas, and when the vessel is to be grounded onlv once after being 
launched by the rising of the water around it. 

t ]\Iark iv. 38, eTzl rd TzpocKsod/.aiov (proskephalaion), e^ddently a regular 
part of the boat's ec{uipment, from the use of the definite article " the pillow." 
Smith's "Dictionary" mentions another term used, but that this was its 
equivalent, and renders it "boatmen's cushion." 



SAILING-BOAT. 



849 



be the place where our Lord in the weakness and weari- 
ness of his humanity was thus resting, and the word " pil- 
low was perhaps the best one available for the transla- 
tors when they sought to describe that his rest was settled, 
not accidental, and that, when He was on the water, some 
softer thing was found for the repose of Him who, when 
on the land, though all his own, had not " where to lay his 
head." 

During twelve days of constant gazing upon this Lake 
of Galilee, I never saw a fishing-boat moving upon it by 




GALILEE FlbUIAG-BOAT. 



daylight, except one morning, when a boat sailed past, and 
perhaps her crew had " toiled all the night." The sketch 
represents this boat, and the outlines of the bacl^-ground as 
seen from Tell Hoom. These comprise the whole of the 
Butaia plain in front, with the large tree on the right as a 
boundary, the two clumps of palm-trees and the hills of 
Bashan behind. This and the picture of Bashan (Chap. 
XXIIL) exhibit nearly the whole eastern shore. The 
boat carries the ordinary lateen of the Mediterranean, not 
that of the Nile, or the Levant, or the Lake of Geneva. 
Nothing could be more miserable to the eye of a sailor 
than to behold this sad distortion of the sailor's art. Nev- 

* All the versions in Bagster's " Hexapla " use this word "pillow." The 
stern in ancient ships was much higher than the prow, and this form contin- 
ued even to the last century in England, while it is still the fashion in Egypt. 
It was on this account that they could anchor from the stern (as in the case 
of Paul's shipwreck), and the high stern made a safe and sloping place, where 
our Saviour slept in the storm. 



350 



FISH. 



ertheless he made the sketch of her abominable rig, and as 
he put his pocket-book away, the sketching sailor sighed. 

I can not find any thing in Josephus about. the fish in 
the lake except in the two following passages:^* "Now 
this lake of Grenesareth is so called from the country ad- 
joining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs, and its length 
one hundred and forty ; its waters are sweet, and very agree- 
able for drinking, for they are finer than the thick waters 
of other fens ; the lake is also pure, and on every side ends 
directly at the shores, and at the sand ; it is also of a tem- 
perate nature w^hea you draw it up, and of a more gentle 
nature than river or fountain water, and yet always cooler 
than one could expect in so diffuse a place as this is ; now 
when this water is kept in the open air, it is as cold as that 
snow which the country people are accustomed to make 
by night in the summer. There are several kinds of fish 
in it, different both to the taste and the sight from those 
elsewhere. It is divided into two parts by the river Jor- 
dan. 

" The country also that lies over against this lake hath 
the same name of Genesareth ; its nature is wonderful, as 
well as its beauty ; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of 
trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly 
plant all sorts of trees there ; for the temper of the air is 
so well mixed that it agrees very well with those several 
sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, 
flourish there in vast plenty ; there are palm-trees also, 
which grow best in hot air ; fig-trees also, and olives 
also, grow near them, which yet require an air that 
is more temperate. One may call this place the am- 
bition of nature, where it forces those plants that are nat- 
urally enemies to one another to agree together ; it is a 
happy contention of the seasons, as if every one of them 
laid claim to this country, for it not only nourishes differ- 
ent sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation but 
preservers them a great while ; it supplies men with the 
principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during 

* "Jewish War," book iii. ch, x. sees. vii. and viii. 



NETS, 



351 



ten months of tlie year, and the rest of the fruits, as they 
become ripe together, through the whole year ; for besides 
the whole temperature of the air, it is also watered from a 
most fertile fountain. The people of the country call it 
Capharnaoum ; some have thought it to be a vein of the 
Nile, because it produces the Coracin fish, as well as that 
lake does which is near to Alexandria. The length of this 
country extends itself along the banks of this lake that 
bears the same, name, for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth 
twenty, and this is the nature of that place." 

Josephus does not appear to tell us any thing as to the 
regulations of the fishing in this lake, though these must 
have been very distinct when so large and valuable a com- 
merce had to be provided for. Nor does he seem to men- 
tion any of the particular modes of fishing which were used. 
The Talmud says that Joshua enacted that the fishing with 
a hook on the sea of Gralilee should be open to all the world 
(Neubauer, p. 25), and once our Lord bid Peter use a hook. 
The most usual. method of catching fish was by the casting 
net, ^krvov (dictuon), Matt. iv. 20, 21; Mark i. 18, 19; 
Luke V. 2 ; John xxi. 6: the ain(p\il3ri(Trp6v {amphlibeestron)^ 
Matt. iv. 18 ; Mark i. 16 ;* probably like that used in 
Egypt: also crayrivn {sageejieh), Matt. xiii. 47, which was 
larger, and required a boat with men on shore to haul it 
in. Probably our word " seine " for a net of this kind may 
be derived from the Greek. The use of a weir or fence of 
reeds within which the fish were caught was forbidden on 
the Sea of Galilee, because the stakes of it damaged the 
boats, but the small traps of stones I have noticed at p. 
842 may be an old mode of fishing, and the plan is used at 
present. The hook was called by a Hebrew word showing 
that it resembled a thorn, Amos iv. 2 ; ajKLarpov {ankistron), 
Matt. xvii. 27. The rod is not mentioned in the Bible. 
Another mode was by the " barbed iron " or trident, or 
the spear, as practised in Egypt for the crocodile, Job xli. 

* The Sinai and the Vatican MSS. have it "casting nets here and there 
into the sea ;" the Alexandrine, "casting a net here and there into the sea 
and in verse 18, the Sinai and the Vatican MSS. have it "forsook the nets." 



352 



CLIFF. 



7, or hippopotamus. The hook referred to in Job xli. 2, 
refers to the practice of putting a ring or " thorn" into a 
fish's gills to tether him to a stake by a rope of reeds (A. 
Y. " hook ") that he might be kept alive. 

Having thus examined the boats and nets, we may re- 
sume the paddle in our own trim craft, and skirt the pret- 
ty white strand which lies north of Genesareth. The wa- 
ter is a perfect glassy calm, and it is easy therefore to make 
a careful examination of all the little bights and coves, 
which show in this part of the shore more variety of out- 
line and character than is met with elsewhere. Although 
I willingly gave to this the most thorough exploration un- 
der water, so far as it could be done by peering down and 
by sounding and probing with the paddle, yet the place 
where we might have expected that something worth look- 
ing for was sure to be found did not contain one single 
evidence of building or of hewn stone, either placed in the 
water designedly or fallen from the cliff hanging over us 
from above."^ J^otwithstandino" this dearth of visible re- 
mains, it is upon that cliff which surmounts Khan Minyeh, 
and is the sudden barrier of the land of Genesareth on the 
north, that Capernaum may have stood, and was thence 
into that deep below " thrust down." The cliff is vertical 
for about fifty feet at one place, and round it the rocks are 
bold, scarped, bare, and jagged, of various bright tints by 
weather blasts, and from their clefts spring weird-looking 
trees, which dangle their farthest branches in the water, so 
that it is even difficult to approach the actual verge, and 
the trees and underwood almost conceal the junction of 
rock with water in some parts.f Large fragments of many 
hundred tons in weight have evidently fallen into the lake 
from above, and some stick out as islets, others lurk just 

* "Wilson savs the only shaft of a column seen in this neighborhood was a 
small basaltic one fiA-e inches in diameter, standing in the lake near the 
point where the x\in et Tin flows in. 

t The rock descends here in some places into the lake without a beach 
between. It does this also south of Magdala, and south of Tiberias, as well 
as at Bethsaida. It is, therefore, not strictly accurate to say that there is a 
beach all round the lake. 



"SCOEPION EOCK." 



353 



below as breakers. The water about them is clearer than 
that north of Tell Hoom, both because the Jordan does 
not sully it in these quieter bays, and because the rock and 
gravel here yield less for suspension. Perhaps also the 
warm solutions at Bethsaida combine with ingredients from 
other fountains, or from Jordan and those of the lake, and 
so precipitate what would be again stirred up only 
by powerful gales. Of the several rocks appear- 
ing above the surface close to this cliff, one is 
particularly remarkable, which is at A in our 
sketch and is depicted in two views below. This 
consists of a level flat summit, seven feet long 
by four feet wide, and about two feet thick, of 
which three-fourths were above the surface of the 
lake. This upper portion is supported by a stalk, 
very thin compared with the head above, and di- J^^l^^^^^^, 
vided into three parallel columns with vertical slits 
between them. One of these subordinate pillars has been 
thinned and broken near the bottom, where also the other 
two are attenuated for a space, but they thicken again be- 
low and spread into a solid foot at a depth of seven feet 
from the surface. The form will be understood by the 
end and side views in the sketch. When the lake is full, 
this rock is doubtless en- 
tirely covered, but situat- 
ed as it is between Beth- 
saida and the fountain 
at Khan Minyeh called 
" Ain et Tin," a curiosity 
of this striking character would surely be well known in 
ancient times. Now Josephus mentions somewhere"^ the 
"Scorpion Eock" as known in the lake, and as this re- 





* An index to Josephus would be a great luxury to those who use his 
work. Various fancies suggest themselves as to why it may be called a 
scorpion, but none are at present satisfactory to me, unless it be considered 
that the head and lobster-like claws of the scorpion resemble the upper part 
of the rock, while the body is like the narrower stalk below, and the tail is 
like the root. 

z 



354 



" CAPHARNAOUM." 



markable perforated stone which we have described seems 
to be the only one of abnormal appearance all round the 
shores of this sea, perhaps he alludes to that. 

Gliding over the sea, we now touch the placid shore of 
Genesareth,* where our Saviour dwelt so long. 

The beach is very low and sloping gently, with a thick 
fringe of oleanders skirting the deep brown sand. Our 
tents are almost hid in the foliage, and the soft carpet of 
grass is patterned bright with wild flowers. 

With such a simple boundary curving inward to the 
land, the plain is bent into a crescent form, just three miles 
long by one in breadth, and rising gradually inland to 
the west. About this amphitheatre the mountains close. 
Streams and rills from these, and two fine fountains in the 
plain, bless this favored region with lasting fertility. Sure- 
ly, this is one of the memorial places of the past to be kept 
for the return of Israel. 

Now the fountain mentioned by Josephus as called 
" Capharnaoum " is evidently of great importance with re- 
lation to the site of Capernaum, concerning which so much 
controversy has arisen ; and with diffidence we shall ven- 
ture to have a word on the subject, because a look at the 
question from a sailor's eye has not yet been noted. At 
first our interest in the respective claims of the three local- 
ities assei'ted by different writers to be Capernaum was 
less than languid. But, even as a problem, the question 
rapidly became absorbing when the places themselves had 
each been examined. They are all so near together, and 
in such well-traversed ground — certainty as to which is the 
true site would impart such new attractions to the spot, 
and the idea seems so strange that a place could be entire- 
ly forgotten where Christ did more of his works than in 
any other village — that we gradually become enlisted in 

• * It is stated that Christ "left Nazareth and dwelt at Capernaum," and 
thus the frequent expression afterwards, " the house, " in relation to this 
place, meant, no doubt, the dwelling in which He resided there, during in- 
tervals long and short, between his numerous visits to other parts of the 
country. 



AIK ET TIN. 855 

the debate, though the point in dispute is not of vital mo- 
ment. 

Three principal places are maintained by different groups 
of authors to be the site of Capernaum. A few others are 
advanced by isolated authorities, but they may with fair- 
ness be left aside as unsupported. 

The usual but not very ancient tradition is that Caper- 
naum was at Khan Minyeh, and, as our camp is now with- 
in a few yards of this place, we can give it a brief descrip- 
tion. Under the high cliff already mentioned as at the 
northern end of the land of Genesareth, is the ruin of an 
old khan, or resting-house, frequented by pilgrims and car- 
avans passing by this way from Jerusalem on the regular 
route to Damascus. The building is not very old, and ex- 
cavations close to it, and even within a somewhat wide 
range of the place, have failed to bring evidence out of the 
ground. 

A few yards from it, and near the bottom of the cliff, a 
clear perennial fountain pours out from the rock, about 
eight feet higher than the lake ; and, as it is shaded by an 
old fig-tree, the name it goes by is "Ain et Tin," the 
"Fount of the Fig-tree."* The water descends into a long 
marshy lagoon, half choked by flags and reeds and papy- 
rus.f From the lake I paddled the Eob Eoy through the 
channel into this jungled pool, and carefully searched 

* The name is by no means distinctive, for many fountains in this and 
other districts rise under fig-trees. Wilson say's that Ain et Tin has two 
heads, a large and a small one. From old water-marks on the cliff, it ap- 
pears that the lake at times rises into the fountain. The water is slightly 
brackish, though less so than at the Tabiga fountain. The inmates of the 
khan always use the lake water, and say the water of the fountain is un- 
healthy. The volume was estimated at one-eighth or one-tenth that of Ba- 
nias. The temperature on January 25, 1866, he gives as follows : 

Degrees. 



Temperature of the air. 62-78 Fahrenheit. 

lake .....60-44 " 

" small spring....... T2-32 " 

" large spring 77-36 " 



t Stanley ("S. and P." p. 375) says the papyrus is also "found on the 
shores of the lake, between the plain of Genesareth and Tiberias," This I 
did not see, though passing along the place. 



856 



WADY EUBBADYEH. 



every nook and cranny in it which could be reached in 
my canoe or on horseback, but with not the least trace de- 
tected of any sort of building. 

Most of the land of Grenesareth is above the level of this 
fountain's head, and though the amount of water in it now 
may be less than before (by the action of the earthquake 
thirty years ago), it is evident that " Ain et Tin " could 
not water the plain, as is described by Josephus to be a 
feature of the fountain called " Capernaum." Much of the 
plain is at present well cultivated, and the water for its ir- 
rigation comes from several streams (marked in Map YII.) 
entering on the west, and which would seem to be capable 
of use over at least twice as much area when the land was 
fully tilled. One of these, Ain el Amud, comes from the 
south along the " AYady Hamam," or "Yale of Doves;" 
and after being diverted at a high level, and pouring a 
genial rivulet through many a fruitful acre of good soil, it 
falls into the lake. Up this stream the Eob Eoy pene- 
trated a long way, but without any discovery of art em- 
ployed, or even of much masonrj^, and on horseback I 
followed it closely for several miles. 

Another stream, called Wady Eubbadyeh, flows into 
the lake more northerly ; and I paddled also upon that, as- 
cending in like manner from the shore, but with a pre- 
cisely similar absence of result. Between these two, and 
near the base of a projecting hill, is a fountain proper, call- 
ed "Ain Mudawara," which quietly mounts from the 
earth below into a large round reservoir, and, escaping 
thence, the portion of it not used for irrigation (very little 
at present) finds its way to the lake."^ On horseback I ex- 
amined the interior and neighborhood of this fountain, 
and entering the walled inclosure, which is about 100 feet 
wide, and in depth from three feet to a few inches, I trav- 
ersed it in all directions, and at different times.f This 

* By the channel the Eob Eoy entered again, though scarcely floating, and 
then for a short distance worked her way into the marshy plain. 

t "SYilson estimates the volume of water at about the same as at Ain et 
Tin. It is sweet and good. TemjDerature 73° Fahr,, when the air was 64^. 



THE CORACINUS. 



857 



careful search was made to see whether I could observe in 
it a specimen of the coracinus, or " cat-fish," which Dr. 
Tristram had found plentifully in this fountain a few years 
ago (but not in winter), and which seemed to be evidence 
that this was the fountain indicated by Josephus. 

Various ruins are found not far from the fountain, and, 
though not distinct, these might be the remains of Caperna- 
um. However, the town need not have been quite close 
to the fountain; although, if both had the same name, it is 
likely, either that they were close together, or that, if 
apart, the town was of considerable size. In default of 
any other proper claimant, and if possessed of the fish as 
an exclusive feature, the round reservoir at Mudawara 
would undoubtedly be entitled to the highest probability 
of being the fountain which Josephus alludes to. But (1.) 
its peculiar claim in respect of the fish is no longer tenable 
as exclusive ; and (2.) another claimant, formidable on 
other grounds, is also asserted to possess the fish. 

The question as to what fish* inhabit the lake has as- 
sumed special interest because of the fish " Coracinus." 

Haselquist the naturalist says: "We afterwards went 
out to the shore of the sea Tiberias, and had some fish 
brought us by the fishermen. I thought it remarkable 
that the same kind of fish should here be met with as in the 
Nile, Charmuth, Silurus, Bgenni, Mulfil, and Sparus Gali- 
Ifeus. The water in the river is sweet, but not very cold, 
though wholesome.f This was in May, 1751, and the last 
clause seems to refer to a stream, but its name is omitted. 

Burkhardt;}: says that the most common species of fish 

More water flows down Wady Eubbadyeli and Wady Amud than in Wady 
Hamam, 

* Dr. Tristram, in his "Land of Israel," gives recent information as to the 
various fish of Palestine, and a complete list of them is given by Gunther, 
in the "Student" for July, 1869 (Groombridge). A vertebra from a very 
large fish, picked up on the shore of the Dead Sea, by Mr. Sandbach, this 
year, was shown to me at Liverpool, on October 4. 

t Haselquist, "Travels in the East" (London, 1766), p. 158. Petherick's 
narrative (1869) gives Harmouth as the name of a Siluroid fish in the Nile. 

X " Travels in Syria and the Holy Land" (1822), p. 316. 



358 



THE HOT SPRINGS. 



are tlie Binni^ or carp, and the Meslit^ wbicL. is about a 
foot long and five inches broad, with a flat body, and like 
the sole. What is here called the Mesht^ and by Hasel- 
quist, Charmuth, is probably what was called Barhoot or 
Burboot^ to me by the fishermen themselves, and meant 
the cat-fisli or Coracinus, which they and my dragoman 
alleged was found plentifully in the lake, and was exported 
by thousands to Damascus and Beyrout. A dead one was 
said to be on the ground near our camp. 

After a diligent search in all the streams and fountains 
of Grenesareth, and a total failure to discover any of the 
coracinus fish there, I made particular inquiries from the 
five fishermen who came to my camp in their boat by in- 
vitation, and were most courteous and intelligent in their 
talk.f These men told me — and not in reply to anj' lead- 
ing questions, but to the most formal and strict examination 
which a Templar could give to such witnesses — that the 
coracinus fish is found in summer time (after the month of 
April) in the fountain of Mudawara, but also in that of Ain 
et Tin ; and that it ascends to both of these from the lake, 
where it is alicays found, but in the colder months only be- 
side the hot springs of Bethsaida. Thither I rode at once 
to see further into this matter, and spent some hours on 
horseback, splashing among the tepid streams ; and at last 
in the lake itself, and just at the spot the men indicated — 
that is, where the waters are warmed by the heated rivulet 
— I noticed one of the fish in question darting out of the 
shallows of the warm sand, and a few yards off burrowing 
until its body and even its long tail were hidden again. 
Kow, as this fish was seen in the lake, and as the Eob Eoy 
floated from the lake both up the stream of Ain et Tin and 

* Kabbi Schwartz thus alhides to this (p. 302) : ' ' There is found also in 
the Sea of Chinnereth a A"ery fat fish, ' al Barbud,' which has no scales, 
wherefore it is not eaten by Jews : I consider it to be a species of the eel." 

t All wore the same kind of dress, a cloak, or scarf (the "fisher's coat"), 
and below it a short kilt. When a man had only this latter gaiTaent on. he 
was said to be "naked." This explains the expression used when Peter 
Aveut into the sea to go to Christ — he girt his short loose dress about him 
with his zummar (girdle). 



THE HOT SPRINGS. 



859 



of Mudawara, it is plain that the coraciims could also ascend 
to these fountains ; and though only seen as yet in one of 
them by a tourist who could record it, the fish may very 
likely be found in both fountains, as the fishermen assert is 
the case ; and so the feature noticed by Joseph us need not 
be peculiar to one fountain more than to another.- 

But now that we are again at Bethsaida and on shore, 
let us see whence the gushing brooks arise which we have 
dipped our hands in by the fishers' huts, and have seen 
from afar dimmed by a beautiful white cloud like finest 
smoke, as their vapor cooled in the evening air while the 
mill-wheel splashed their waters. 

Behind these mills,^ and far higher above the lake than 
Am et Tin and Mudawara, a perennial stream at Bethsaida 
comes from a great round fountain, also girded by walls 
which are at least twenty feet high. Some part of the ma- 
sonry is very ancient, and fig-trees, bursting though it, 
clamber down the sides, and hang their white-barked hoary 
limbs over a hot sullen pool below. Steps reach partly 
down to this, but I could not find a practicable way by 

* There are buildings for five mills, but only one was in use. Captain 
"Wilson says there are five springs ; the water is more or less brackish. The 
main spring issues Avest of the foot of the octagonal reservoir, and has a vol- 
ume a little more than half of that of Banias fountain. This turns the mill 
(on a vertical shaft). The octagon reservoir is of irregular shape, part of it 
on the east is cut in the rock. By this the spring would be raised to a height 
of about twenty feet, and was then carried by the aqueduct to the Ghuweir 
(Genesareth). The Arabs called the fountain Ain Dhabur, and the wady 
running into the plain Wady Jamoos. At Tabiga the limestone crops out 
through the basalt (dip 20°, strike 315°), The temperature of the main 
spring was 86° Fahr,, and apparently increased inside the rubbish. This is 
the hottest fountain on the lake. The aqueduct had already been observed 
by Thomson (" The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 545), De Berton speaks 
of "some ancient aqueducts from under the hill (at Khan Minyeh) carrying 
the water which supplies the mills at Taibiga," which seems a dim notion of 
their purpose, though in a wrong direction, De Saulcy suggests that Jose- 
phus did not mean that the name of the fountain was Capharnaum (for Kefr 
would not be inserted in a town's name), but that it was named from Caphar- 
naum, and may have had another title. He mentions also having passed a 
stream, Tabrah, in going north-east from Nahr Rubadyeh ; may this have 
been a lingering of the iiame of Tabiga aqueduct when that had gone to 
decay ? 



360 



JOSEPHUS'S FOUNTAIN. 



which to descend without a rope, and tbough I do not mind 
a ducking, I object, on the whole, to be boiled. 

ISTow, why has this fountain, so near the sea, been walled 
so high and at great expense? Not to supply drinking 
water to any town at Bethsaida — a much smaller reservoir 
would suffice for that. Not to drive the mills, for there is 
plenty of fall to do that without so much artificial elevation. 
Then where did the water run to from so high a head? 
This is what has been most satisfactorily answered by the 
happy keenness of an intelligent observer. Captain Wilson, 
who traced the remains of an ancient aqueduct leading from 
this round fountain at Tabigaby a sure but winding route 
all the way to the rocky cliff* we have so often mentioned 
at the edge of the land of Genesareth. We easily trace 
it thither. Then we ride up the cliff, and find the level 
water-way has come there too. But to take it over that 
cliff was impossible, and to tunnel through it would be 
needless ; so the channel is cut round the rocky slope, and 
we go inside the old dry aqueduct, long used as a riding- 
path, but now plainly seen to be a way for water by its 
section like an inverted horseskoe : the very least conven- 
ient form for a road, and the very best for a channel.* 
Can this fountain at Tabiga be that named in Josephus ? 
Fish could come to it from the lake.f Water brought 
from it to the cliff might well be said to come from a fount- 
ain named after the most considerable village upon -its 
course ; and if Capernaum was near this hill — or, as I think, 
partly at least upon the cliff itself — then the fountain, little 
more than half a mile distant, might well be called by the 
same name as the town. From this elevation it could 
readily irrigate all the plain, and the aqueduct leading it 
for this purpose by the north-west horn of the crescent gar- 

* A photograph of this, pubhshed by the Palestine Exploration Fund, 
shows very clearly to the eye the facts mentioned here in words. 

t Perhaps not at present into the reservoir, but to the mill-dam, where the, 
miller said they are found, and then, when the water in the reservoir was 
low, they could go to that. As this fish lives at the bottom, it might not be 
noticed in the reservoir unless the water Avas shallow. 



AT TABiaA. 



361 



den has also been traced by Wilson quite far enongb to show 
that this was done. Thus the description of Josephus 
would be entirely explained as to the fish in the fountain 
and the fountain watering the plain. 

It may well be supposed that, as the very existence of 
this aqueduct has been only lately ascertained, no record 
has been found of when its functions ceased. However, it 
appears to me that this may have been the " channel of 
Jordan " alluded to in an old but distinct account"^ of what 
was once at Khan Minyeh. Coming from so high a level, 
the stream might readily be mistaken for a canalette from 
the river, like those we have described in connection with 
the Abana, and indeed quite similar to these both in pur- 
pose and in construction, cutting through the rock, while to 
any other stream in Galilee the description seems to be in- 
applicable. 

* This is what Saunderson says, writing a.d. 1601: "After leaving Ti- 
berias, we came to Almenia " (the sound of the word very much resembhng 
that of Khan Minyeh), "which hath been a great citie, also 7 or 8 miles off, 
close buUtby the sea side, along through which runneth a channel of Jordan, 
this undoubtedly is Capernaum, for that is over the point of land ;" but with 
respect to the name, he allows that "the Jewes, neither the Turkes, could 
directly advise me which it was " (Purchas's " Pilgrims," vol. ii. p. 1635). 



862 



THE "DESERT PLACE." 



CHAPTER XXL 

The Apostles' Voyage. — The "Desert Place." — The Embarkation. — Direc- 
tion. — Position of the Ship. — The Weather and Waves. — Approach of 
Christ. — Action of Peter. — Arrival of the Ship. — Other Incidents. — Other 
Evidence. — " Exalted to Heaven." — Josephus. — Wounded. — Dimensions. 
— Testimony. — Thanks. — Maps. 

We propose to devote this chapter to a look at the site 
of Capernaum from a sailor's point of view. The city is 
mentioned in the New Testament on one occasion, which 
seems to deserve our attention here, as the sole instance 
where the position of the place is indicated in relation to 
other places, and a distance on the water is given. These 
are found in the narrative of the dark and stormy voyage 
of the twelve apostles, related by three of the Evangelists, 
and each of them records features or incidents which m.ust 
all be considered together if we would view the description 
as a whole. Let ns endeavor to combine in consecutive 
narration the three separate accounts* of this voyage con- 
tained in Matt. xiv. 13-34 ; Mark vi. 30-53 ; and John vi. 
1-25. 

Our Lord having been told of the death of John the Bap- 
tist, the twelve apostles " gathered themselves together " 
nnto Him, and " he took them" and "departed thence by 
ship," "and went aside privately" "into a desert place." 
So far the authorized versions of the four Evangelists asrree 
with the versions in Tauchnitz's. But in Luke ix. 10, after 
the word "privately," whereas our version reads "into a 
desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida," the 

* St. Luke (ix. 10-17) narrates only the first portion of the events of that 
day. The "beloved physician " who here recounts the cure of the sick could 
have well described the voyage afterwards, for there is great distinctness and 
power in his accoimt of Paul's voyage to Rome, and especially of the ship- 
wreck, wherein he gives more information about the ships of the time than is 
found in any other author, or, perhaps, in all other authors together. 



THE apostles' VOYAGE. 



363 



Vatican MS. reads "into tlie city called Bethsaida," while 
the Sinai MS., being without these words originally, has 
them inserted in correction. The name Bethsaida here is 
mentioned by only one Gospel, and being styled "the city 
called Bethsaida" (not a city), we might suppose that the 
Bethsaida on the west of the lake, " the city of Andrew and 
Peter," is meant. But it is generally considered that the 
other Bethsaida (called Julias), and on the east of Jordan 
(at Et Tell), is the place indicated, because after the miracle 
Christ directed the apostles to get into a ship " and to go to 
the other side, before unto Bethsaida " (Mark vi. 45). This 
was the Bethsaida on the west, which is always styled sim- 
ply "Bethsaida,"^ as if it was well known, while the other 
on the east is "the city called Bethsaida." 

" The people saw them departing, and many knew him, 
and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them and 
came together unto him ;" " and he received them, and spake 
unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that 
had need of healing." That the people were able to come 

* Dr. Thomson supposes that there was one Bethsaida which was built on 
both sides of the Jordan. While deference may be paid to this opinion of a 
scholar, long resident in Palestine, and acquainted with the locality, we may 
remark that his description of the voyage of the apostles is by no means sat- 
isfactoiy to a sailor. He supposes the boat to "set sail" from a point in 
the Butaia plain, and to be " driven past " Tell Hoom, to near the plain of 
Genesareth. Now this presumes that the wind was at least north of west, 
and in such a case (1.) there would be few waves at first, and much less as 
they went on; (2.) they could easily keep close to shore, as their proper 
course; and (3.) they would not be "in the midst of the sea;" and after 
rowing "25 or 30 furlongs " they would not be "toiling in rowing," but in 
calm, and, indeed, would then be actually on shore. Thomson also says : 
"I do not believe that another instance can be found of two cities of the 
same name close together on the same part of a small lake" ("The Land 
and the Book," vol. li. p. 31). Yet he himself mentions the Wady Semak 
above Khersa, and the village Semak, farther south, on the same eastern 
shore of the lake (but nearer to the other than the two Bethsaidas wei-e). 
These places have the same modem name, because it was applicable to them 
both (meaning "fish") : and, for the same reason, two cities may have been 
called "Bethsaida," "the fisherman's home." It may be also observed that 
a city placed some way up the nver s channel would be a ve-y inconvenient 
place for fishers boats plying on the lake, although it might well be a place 
for catching the fish that ascended the river. 



364: 



THE apostles' VOYAGE. 



" afoot " to the place before the boat, sbows probably that 
there was not a favorable wind, or that the boat went 
slowly. The greater the distance between the starting- 
point and the place they came to the less easy would it be 
for people to walk round to it faster than the boat went 
across the curve, and this makes it less likely that the boat 
went far south on the Butaia plain. The 5000 were then 
fed, and twelve baskets were filled with the fragments.* 
"And straightway he constrained the disciples to get into 
the ship,f and to go to the other side:j: before unto Beth- 
saida," Trpog BrjOadiMy, " ovcr against Bethsaida" (Gries- 
bach). While the apostles went to obey the directions of 
Christ, He sent the multitude away, and departed into a 
mountain " to pray." The day had passed, and two things 
are next mentioned, each with the same time noted. 
" When the evening was come, he was there alone " (Mat- 
thew). "When even was now come, his disciples went 
down unto the sea " (John). 

There is no indication of the exact spot from which this 
embarkation was made. We have already described sev- 
eral ports and channels on the north-east shore, at any one 
of which the apostles may have left " the ship," and it ap- 
pears to have been the same vessel that they now embarked 
in. For the sake of clearness, therefore, it will be necessary 
to consider the midnight voyage both on the hypothesis 

* Sitting in 50 ranks, of 100 in each rank, the men would exactly number 
5000. Baskets were carried by the Jews when traveUing in the Passover 
time, for their food and other things, lest they should be defiled. 

t Mark vi. 45. The Sinai MS. has "a ship." In Matt. xiv. 22, where it 
is " a ship," the Sinai MS. reads " the ship." 

X The words eig to 7re pav, translated "to the other side," need not, per- 
haps, mean to the opposite side of the lake, east or west of the J ordan. J o- 
sephus, departing from Tiberias, says he "sailed over to Tarichese," diEire- 
pdiudev ("Life," sec. lix.), while Tiberias and Tarichese were on the same, 
western, side of Jordan, and without any deeply indented bay between them. 
Several of the more notable texts involving this subject are cited by Robin- 
son, and it may be unwise to disturb the general understanding as to the 
word TTspav. Many questions would have to be opened anew if the meaning 
does not always involve a passage over the lake east or west, yet possibly 
some difficulties now unexplained Avould yield to better inquiry on this point. 
The name of the district Peraea comes from Tcepav. 



THE EMBAKKATIOK 



365 



that it began from the north end of the Butaia plain near 
the point A on Map YIL, and on the hypothesis that it be- 
gan near the south-east end of the plain at the point E on 
the map. The intermediate cases of embarkation from 
some port between A and E may be worl^ed out by those 
who are sufficiently interested in the question. 

They embarked, however, "and went over the sea to- 
wards Capernaum," i]pxoyTO Tripav Tr}g Qa\aa(Tr]Q elg KaTrepyaovjuL, 
"were going," we might say [Sinai MS. "and came over 
the sea towards Capharnaum "]. But Mark has told us 
that the Lord bid them go " unto Bethsaida," and we may 
well suppose that they went in the direction He had ordered. 
Matthew says, " and when they w^ere gone over, they came 
into the land of Genesareth " [Sinai and Vatican MSS., 
"they came to land unto Gennesaret "]. Mark says the 
same, adding "and drew to the shore," while John tells us 
that, when they had received Him into the ship, " imme- 
diately the ship was at the land whither they went " [Sinai 
MS., "whither it went"], and that next day "the people 
came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus." We may surely 
deduce from these specific statements that the place to 
which Christ bid the apostles go (Bethsaida), the place the 
apostles were going to, and which next day the people 
went to in search of Him (Capernaum), and the place they 
arrived at (Genesareth), were all in the same direction. 

We have now to apply the foregoing conclusions to test 
some of the claims of the two rival sites, the one at Tell 
Hoom (which we shall call T), and the other at Khan Min- 
yeh (which we shall call K), and we shall do this by follow- 
ing what would happen in the voyage as if it began at A 
or at E separately. 

I. As to the direction or bearings of the course laid down 
at starting. 

(1.) If the ship started from A, the direction would be 
the same for T, for K, for Bethsaida, and for the land of 
Genesareth. Nothing, then, can be decided from this case. 

(2.) If the ship started from E, Kow Bethsaida bears 
W. by IST. from E, and the land of Genesareth W. i N. 



366 



POSITION OF THE SHIP. 



And as T bears W.KW., while K bears W. J N., it is 
plain that the bearings would have only half a point differ- 
ence if the ship was going to Khan Minyeh, but would 
have three times as much if she was going to Tell Hoom, 
so that this is in favor of Khan Minyeh. We shall now 
consider the evidence to be gathered from what happened 
during the voyage itself 

II. As to the position of the ship. The ship had started, 
and Matthew says it was now "in the midst of the sea" 
[Vatican MS., " many furlongs distant from the land "]. 
Mark says the same. 

(3.) If she started from A, whether for K or T, the 
ship's course would never be five furlongs from the land, 
for if the wind was from anywhere in W.N.W. to W.S.W., 
she would "hug the shore," and if it were from W.S.W. 
to S.S.E., she would not be driven from the land. This, 
therefore, is against the supposition that the start was made 
from A. 

(4.) If she started from E, and rowed the distance men- 
tioned (in our next section), then, if going to T, she would 
not now be four furlongs from land, but if going to K, she 
would still be double that distance — which is in favor of 
Khan Minyeh. 

III. As to the weather and waves. Matthew says the 
ship was "tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary." 
Mark says that the men were " toiling with rowing, for 
the wind was contrary unto them." John says, " the sea 
arose {dirjyeipero, ' was rising ') by reason of a great wind 
that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twen- 
ty or thirty furlongs,"* the great event occurred which all 
of them recount. We may reckon the furlong or stadion 
(by the best authorized computation) at 202 yards, so that 
twenty-seven furlongs and a half, the mean of the distances 

* He says also, ' ' And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them " 
[Sinai MS., "And the darkness overtook them, and Jesus was not yet 
come to them"]. This remark, showing that Christ Avas probably expected, 
and therefore waited for, is considered in another place (ante, p. 346), but it 
does not bear upon the reasoning as to the claims of K or T to Capernaum. 



THE WEATHER AND WAVES. 



367 



given, would be about three miles. Applying this and the 
other new particulars, we observe : 

(5.) If the ship started from A to go to T, the distance 
rowed would bring her on the shore, for Tell Hoom is only 
two miles from A ; but if she was going to K, she would 
still be nine furlongs distant. This again is in favor of 
Khan Minyeh. The contrary wind might be the same in 
both cases. 

(6.) If she started from E for T, she would now be 
five furlongs distant. In this case the wind, to be " contra- 
ry," must be from north-east, round by west to south-west ; 
and if it blew from north of their course (W.N.W.), the 
sea would be almost calm near the spot the ship has now 
come to. Again, if it blew from south of their course, the 
ship could not be drifted to the land of Grenesareth. But 
if she started from E going to K, she would now be nearly 
twenty furlongs distant from K (almost midway on her 
voyage), and the wind, being contrary (from the west), 
would come out of the high gorge of the Yale of Doves 
and across the land of Genesareth, with a sweep of nearly 
eight miles, without shelter from the hills ; so that not 
only would the sea be high at starting, but the force of the 
wind would be felt to the very end of the voyage, because 
there the beach is low and the hills recede ; whereas at T 
the land is quite different in this respect. This is strongly 
in favor of Khan Minyeh. 

We have thus used the narrative of the apostles' voyage 
to test the claims of Tell Hoom and Khan Minyeh, by sup- 
posing one and then the other of them to be Capernaum, 
and have regarded it under the heads of — I. The direction 
or bearings at starting ; II. The position of the ship in the 
lake ; III. The weather and waves. Three wonderful events 
next signalize this voyage ; IV. The approach of Christ ; 
V. The action of Peter; YI. The arrival of the ship; 
after which there is, YII. The search' next day. These 
we shall consider solely with relation to the question of 
the site of Capernaum. For other purposes, the minds of 
the most profound and devout men have studied the sub- 
ject, and the ablest pens have written. 



368 



APPROACH OF CHRIST. 



lY. The A]jproacli of Christ. — It was at the " fourth 
watch of the night " that this happened — not earlier than 
three o'clock of the succeeding morn ; and the apos- 
tles had left Him on land at least six hours before. Now 
the J saw Him " walking on the sea.''"^ Mark says of the 
apostles, " they all saw him," In Matthew it is written, 
" he went to them." Mark says, " he cometh unto them :'* 
and John describes Him as " drawing nigh unto the ship 
so that He was not standing, but moving, and the direc- 
tion of his progress seems to be indicated by Mark, when 
he adds that " the Lord would have passed by them." 
There is no room left to suppose that He who "plants his 
footsteps in the sea" was standing upon some point of land, 
or went along some shallow, which, at all events now, does 
not, I am certain, exist in or near either place, K or T. It 
states distinctly that He went on the sea after them, came 
from behind to them, but on one side, and so overtook the 
ship while it was in deep water, and before it " drew to the 
land." 

Yo Peter is now forward to be called into danger. He 
requests, he is bidden to "come;" he walks, doubts ("If 
it be thou"), fears, sinks, calls for help, and this is given, 
and with it the title " thou of little faith," in presence of 
them all. This Peter, who at another time leaped into the 
water to go to Jesus, would have done so now without fear, 
had the wind been calm, or the waves less boisterous, or 
the water shallow, or the land near. 

(7.) All these features in the incidents of Christ's ap- 
proach and Peter's conduct seem to harmonize well with 
the supposition that the ship was away from the shore, and 
that the sea was yet rough ; and thus they favor the view 
that the ship had not gone towards Tell Hoom. 

Still more is this shown by the next words, " And he 

* Enl T?~/g 6a7Aaa7/c. Alford considers that this expression clearly means 
"upon the sea." Matthew, after using the word like the others (ver. 25), 
uses also stti rrjv dalaaaav (ver. 26), which fonn is used by John (ver. 16), 
when stating the embarkation of the apostles. When Peter "walked on the 
water," it is k-l ra vdara (Matt. xiv. 28, 29). 



ARKIVAL OF THE SHIP. 369 
f 

went up unto tbem into the ship;" "Then thej willingly 
received [Sinai MS., ' came to receive '] him into the 
ship;" for we can see no reason why He should then go on 
board, and take Peter there also, if the ship was already at 
its destination, or if it was even near to the place. 

YI. Quickly, however, there follows the remarkable ex- 
pression, "the wind ceased,''' both in Matthew and Mark: 
while John tells us, "and immediately (fv0£wc) the ship was 
at the land whither they went " [Sinai MS., " it went "]. 

(8.) Now, Bethsaida was " whither they went ;" and 
whether this was (as Thomson places it) at Jordan's mouth, 
or was near K (and no other position for Bethsaida seems 
suggested), it was in each case several miles from T. This 
last consideration seems sufficient to dispose of the claims 
of Tell Hoom as the site of Capernaum. 

But we are told distinctl}^ by John that, "when they 
were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret " [the 
Sinai and the Vatican MSS. even more definitely read, 
"they came unto land to Gennesaret"]. This land is 
more than forty furlongs distant froni any part of the 
north-east plain, except that just near the Jordan, from 
which it is about thirty-nine furlongs. The apostles' esti- 
mate of twenty-five or thirty furlongs from the point of 
their embarkation is not likely to be incorrect or hap-haz- 
ard, for they were fishermen in their own boat, and home- 
ward bound. We may, therefore, believe that the vessel 
was now at least a mile from the shore. 

A distinguished expositor of the ISTew Testament seems 
to intimate, in his note on this subject, that the speedy ar- 
rival of the ship was not necessarily miraculous. Doubt- 
less, the question turns a good deal upon whether the word 
" immediately " does or does not allow sufficient interval of 
time to bring the ship from " the midst of the sea," and one 
mile over the water, to the land itself, say at the least a quar- 
ter of an hour. But as we have had already in the narrative 
a succession of miracles — Christ walking on the sea, Peter 
walking on the water, the calming of the wind — so now, 
perhaps, we have another — the quick arrival of the ship. 

A2 



370 



ACTION OF THE PEOPLE. 

5> 



Some persons feel it difficult to believe that any miracle 
has ever occurred, because, they say, it would be a "breach 
of the laws of Nature." I do not believe that aii}^ "breach 
of the laws of Nature" lias ever occurred, but that these 
laws have been always observed, and that one of the laws 
He ordained (though we did not know it, being ignorant) 
is that He can do, has done, and will do, whatever is his 
will and pleasure, at all timics, in all places. 

yil. The Action of the People next day. — They " took 
shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus." 
- (9.) Insomuch as this indicates that Capernaum was dis- 
tant enough to make it advisable to go by sea, it is in fa- 
vor of K as the site rather than T. (The difficult passage, 
[John vi. 22-25], we have considered already, at p. 346, 
and it does not affect our present question.) 

We have thus endeavored fairlj^ to apply the whole nar- 
rative of this voyage as a test of the rival sites of Caper- 
naum. The difficulty of doing so satisfactorily is enhanced 
by the fact that, while direction and distance are given, the 
starting-point is uncertain from which our direction is in- 
dicated, and from which our distance is measured. The 
starting-point has, therefore, been regarded in its two ex- 
treme positions on the plain. Doubtless, it may have been 
between these, and not either at A or E ; and an attentive 
consideration of the preceding argument will probablj^ con- 
vince the reader that the starting point was nearer to E 
than to A. He will also perceive that, while the site at 
Tell Hoom would be violently inconsistent with the narra- 
tive in one or another group of important particulars, 
wherever the starting-point really was, the site of Khan 
Minj^eh for Capernaum fulfills easily everj^ one of the con- 
ditions under the seven heads we have considered, and 
supports the whole narrative as to the direction, distance, 
weather, the transactions on the sea, and the conduct of the 
people on the shore. 

Some remarks may be added upon other passages of the 
New Testament where Capernaum is mentioned, applying 
the reliable information now first available as to the con- 



OTHER EVIDENCE. 



871 



tour of the shore, the distances between the several points, 
and the form of the hills and valleys on land, and our 
knowledge, in addition, of the bays, beaches, harbors, and 
the winds. 

(10.) After our Lord had called his disciples from their 
nets and Zebedee's ship, it is stated (Mark i. 21), " And 
they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath 
day he entered into the synagogue and taught " (probably 
at the beginning of the Sabbath in the evening, for the 
fishermen would not be employed at their nets on the Sab- 
bath) ; "And forthwith when they were come out of the 
synagogue, they entered into the house of Sim.on and An- 
drew with James and John." This and Luke iv. 38, as 
well as numerous other passages, show that Capernaum 
was near to Bethsaida, so that whatever force there is in 
our arguments from the sea and the shore in favor of Beth- 
saida being at Tabiga will apply to show that Capernaum 
was at Klian Minyeh. 

(11.) "And in the morning, rising up a great while be- 
fore day, he went out and departed into a solitary place 
and there prayed." The rough hills behind Khan Minyeh, 
but not far off, seem to provide more naturally for this than 
the cultivated ground about Tell Hoom. 

(12.) In Matt. v. we are told that Christ "went up into 
a mountain." After the long Sermon on the Mount related 
in that and the next two chapters,* he came down, the 
leper was cured, " And when Jesus was entered into Caper- 
naum " (Matt. viii. 5, and Luke vii. 1), the centurion came 
about his servant, and then the cure of " the great fever" 
of Simon's wife's mother is related. f So that, whether this 
was done immediately after the calling of the fishermen, or 
after the Sermon on the Mount, the position of Capernaum 

* The floor of a boat-house in Ireland appeared to me so remarkably good 
that I asked of what it Avas made, and the reply was "of refuse salt." This 
illustrates verse 13 in the sermon, where the salt is ' ' trodden under foot of 
men." 

t It is remarked that the plain of Genesareth and the parts adjacent are 
now yery subject to fever, and probably were so of old, but I think that this, 
though corroborative of a detail, is not an important fact in the evidence. 



372 



"exalted to heavek. 



as close to Bethsaida seems implied ; and as in the former 
case we bring Bethsaida nCar to Tabiga, because of the 
shore, and the sea, and the fish, so in the latter case we are 
led to place Capernaum on the way to Bethsaida from the 
" Mount," otherwise the route of our Lord on this occasion, 
and after such long proceedings, would be very circuitous; 
and as the " Mount " has usually been placed south of 
Genesareth, we shall find Capernaum south of Bethsaida, 
«. e,, at Khan Minyeh. 

(13.) In Luke x. 15, Christ uses the expression " exalted 
io heaven " in relation to Capernaum. Whether this refers 
to the actual situation of the buildings, or is only metaphor- 
ical, it deserves to be noticed. No other city all round 
the lake had a hill on the shore so high* as that at Khan 
Minyeh which could be built upon. If the houses were 
on this hill (as well as below) the couch of the paralytic 
(Mark ii. 4) could more readily be carried to the roof from 
the terrace above than by the usual outside stairs to the 
roof, which would have their entrance on a level with the 
floor, and therefore be less accessible on account of the 
crowd. 

(14.) We may also ask how it was that, if Capernaum 

* The cliff projecting into the sea is Tell Lareyne. Wilson estimates the 
height of the hill as from 200 to 300 feet. 

De Saulcy (a'oI. ii. p. 428) cites a remarkable passage from Adnmnan, in 
the seventh centmy, who says (" De Locis Sanctis,'' lib. ii.), writing of Ca- 
pernaum — "qnge ut Arciilfus refert qui eam de monte vicino prospexit mu- 
rum non habens angusto inter montem et stagnum coartata spatio, per illam 
maritimam oram longo tramite protenditur, montem ab aquilonali plaga, lo- 
cum vero ab australi habens, ab occasu in ortum extensa dirigitur." 

(De Saulcy, indeed, to force this to agree with him, turns all the bearings 
through an angle of about 45° ; but, if needful to support his own theoiy, 
this lively French traveller turned maps, and pictures, and testimony througli 
even 180° without any ceremony.) 

Benjamin of Tudela says : — "Caphar Nahhum is fom-e leagues distant from 
thence (Carmel), retayning the' ancient name, a very high place, which ex- 
ceedeth Carmel in prospect" (Purchas's "Pilgrims," vol. ii. p. 1444). Ta- 
bor, if that was meant by "Carmel," is about four leagues from Khan 
Minyeh. This extract is cited, not as to the geographical position, but the 
elevation of the town. Saunderson also, in a.d. 1601, may allude to this 
elevation of the place when he says it "is over the point of land" (see the 
passage, ante, p. 361). 



EUINS AT TELL HOOM. 



373 



was not there, no other city or building seems to have been 
placed on this cliff, the most commanding site of any round 
the lake, with a good harbor below, with water accessible 
in the aqueduct above, and with the richest ground along- 
side. That no name should have lingered here, and no 
relics, is explained if we consider this was the place to 
which Christ's words applied, " And thou, Capernaum, 
which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell " 




ETJINS AT TELL HOOM. 



(Luke X. 15).* With such a fate denounced upon Caper- 
naum, we may wonder that, if Tell Hoom be the city, not 
only has the name survived, but chief amongst the ruins 
there — the best-preserved of any round the lake, and the 
finest of their kind in Palestine — should be those of the 

* In the Sinai and Vatican MSS., "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be 
exalted to heaven ? Thou shalt be thrust down to hell. " 



374: 



WOUNDED. 



very synagogue where our Lord was most rejected, and 
which would incur the deepest woe.* 

(15.) There are three passages in Josephus wherein 
Capernaum is mentioned. In one of these he speaks of 
the fountain, and this we have already discussed. Another 
is in the narrative of his own life (sec. Ixxii.), where he 
relates several skirmishes and battles in the Butaia plain, f 
and close to Julias, after one of which he says: — "And I 
had performed great things that day if a certain fate had 
not been my hindrance, for the horse on which I rode, and 
upon whose back I fought, fell into a quagmire and threw 
me on the ground, and I was bruised on my wrist and car- 
ried into a village named Capharnome.:): ... I therefore 
sent for the physicians, and while I was under their hand, 
I continued feverish that day, and as the physicians direct- 
ed, I was that night removed to Taricheae." From this 
"quagmire," wherever it was,§ the wounded general was 
carried {Uofiiadriv) to Capernaum. Now Josephus had at 
this time two hundred ships at Tarichese. His party had 
complete command of the water, for next day, after another 
fight, "when they (the Eomans) heard that some armed 
men were sailed from Tariche^ to Julias they were afraid 
and retired " (sec. Ixxiii.), so that no doubt Josephus had 
boats near the battle-field, and to go by water would be 
the most natural, the most easy, and the safest, shortest, and 

* The name " Keraseh " and the ruins there are subject to the same re- 
mark if that place can be considered to represent Chorazin. Bethsaida, how- 
ever, has not preserved its name, and no ruins remain in situ. 

t In sec. Ixxiii, it is distinctly said that Sylla's ambush was ' ' beyond Jor- 
* dan." The details given in sec. Ixxi. appear to be equally applicable to 
either side of Jordan, and not to determine the position of Julias, which, 
however, from other notices, we may conclude was on the east. 

X In Whiston's translation is inserted here, "or Capernaum," but this is 
not in the Greek of Dindorf s version (Paris, 1845), which has only the words 
UQ Kidfiip Ke(j)apvc)/j,?jv ?,eyojuev')]v, and it may be noticed here that this is not 
exactly the same word as that used by Josephus when speaking of the fount- 
ain, Ka(j)apvaovju ("Jewish War," book iii. ch. x. sec. viii.). 

§ It may have been upon either side of Jordan, so far as the nature of the 
ground indicates. For on the east side is the marshy Butaia, and on the 
west is the treacherous morass described already as most difficult to ride over 
(see ante, p. 311). 



DIMENSIONS. 



375 



surest for a wounded man. The port they reached on 
their way to his home at Tarichese would be Capernaum. 
There the physicians consulted, and as he was feverish, 
and as the fight, the wound, the sending for the doctors, 
and the time under their hands were all in one day, it must 
have been late when he set out again for Taricheae, to 
which he was taken (" carried over," luereKojuLiadriv) that night. 
Now if he was taken by land from Tell Hoom to Tari- 
cheae (Kerak), it would be over fifteen miles of road, oc- 
cupying at least eight hours (a sick man travelling at 
night), but if he went by water from Khan Minyeh to 
Taricheee, which is about ten miles and a half, he could be 
rowed as fiist as possible, at all events, in three hours. It 
is, therefore, most probable that Joseph us embarked for 
Taricheae at once when he was wounded, that he stopped 
at Capernaum to consult the physicians of his army (then 
in that neighborhood), and that there is nothing here to 
show that Capernaum was close to Jordan. 

(16.) One more passage in Josephus seems to bear upon 
the site of Capernaum, although with only negative evi- 
dence against the claim of Tell Hoom. He says (" Jewish 
War," book iii. ch. iii. sec. i.) of Lower Galilee — "Its 
breadth"^ is also from Meroth to Thella, a village nearest to 
Jordan," where the name Thella has much the sound of 
Tell Hoom,f but Josephus mentions it without any refer- 
ence to Capernaum.:]: 

* fiTjKvvETai, latitudo (Dindorf) ; but "Whiston translates it "length;" and 
jEiTovog, proximo (Dindorf), he translates "near." 

t "Thella is undoubtedly the ancient Tellum, now Cherbath Tillum, situ- 
ated on the north-west shore of the lake of Tiberias" (Schwartz, p. 70). 

t The accuracy of Josephus in his descriptions seems to be more clearly 
brought out in proportion as recent researches have uncovered the evidence 
long buried under ruins. While we read this author's books for information 
as to the places made notable in the Bible, it may be allowed, perhaps, to 
mention the following allusions made by him to some of the principal persons 
of the New Testament. 

In his " Antiq. of the Jews " (book xviii. ch. iii. sec. iii.) he says : "Now 
there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a 
man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive 
the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews 



376 



TESTIMONY. 



The question as to whether Khan Minjeh or Tell Hoom 
has most right to be regarded as the site of Capernaum 
from what has been written since the Bible and after Jo- 
sephus, and from the opinions of modern travellers, opens 
a very large and interesting discussion quite beyond the 
limits of the Kob Eoy's cruise. My opinion on this gen- 
eral question has no particular weight, but the new and 
special c?ato here supplied from the water and the map may 
be useful to those who have the ability, diligence, and 
scholarship necessary to give importance to their decisions. 
Such men have already investigated the question with the 
knowledge available when each one wrote. To them for 
their facts, and their arguments, their reflections, or their 

and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at 
the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to 
the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him ; for he ap- 
peared to them alive again on the third day ; as the divine prophets had fore- 
told these and ten thousand other Avonderful things concerning him. And 
the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day." 
(See also a note to "Jewish War," book ii, ch. ix. sec. i.) 

Pontius Pilate is mentionfed in " Antiq. of the Jews " (book xviii. ch. ii. 
sec. ii.); and Josephus mentions that "John that was called the Baptist" 
was slain by Herod at Macherus ("Antiq. of the Jews," book xviii. ch. v. sec. 
ii.), and that "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was 
James," was stoned (book xx. ch. ix. sec. i.). 

An interesting comment is also supplied by another fact which Josephus 
relates. When the appeal of Paul forced King Agrippa to say, "Almost 
thou persuadest me to be a Christian," the prisoner answered that he wished 
all who heard him were not only almost but altogether as himself, "except 
these bonds," and he raised up his hands fettered by a cliain. The king 
must have felt this gesture specially above all, for he himself had been bound 
at Rome with an iron chain, and when he was pardoned, the emperor 
"changed his iron chain for a golden one of equal weight," which Agrippa 
afterwards brought to Jerusalem, and "hung it up within the limits of the 
Temple over the Treasury, that it might be a memorial of the severe fate he 
had lain under, and a testimony of his change for the better" (Josephus, 
" Antiq. of the Jews," book xviii. ch. vi. sec. x. ; and book xix. ch. vi. sec. i.). 

Such notices of the leading personages in Christian history will be received 
by some readers not only with interest, but with special attention, because 
the author occupied the peculiar position of apparent neutrality. If a pagan 
writer tells distinctly the same facts as the Bible, people are sure to ask, 
"Why did he not believe them?" — and yet, if he did helieve them, and so 
became a professed Christian, they immediately exclaim, " He is a partial 
witness." 



THANKS. 



377 



Stirring words, or their bright descriptions, eacli new trav- 
eller owes a debt that can not be paid, and is only imper- 
fectly acknowledged by scrupulously citing each name 
when its special authority is used. This willing tribute 
is given in these pages to Robinson, Stanlej^, Tristram, 
Thomson, Porter, Wilson, Alford, Finn, Schwartz, New- 
bold, Smith, etc., besides the classic authors who are now 
beyond our thanks. 

The argument in favor of Tell Hoom as the site of Ca- 
pernaum appears to me to rest chiefly upon its name, which 
is supposed to have been altered from Kefr Nahum (the 
village of ISTahum) to Tell Nahum (the hill or ruin of Na- 
hum) when the place had become deserted. But while we 
find the name Kefr Nahum applied by authors to various 
other places, I do not see it applied to the place now called 
Tell Hoom in any ancient writer, and though Wey's map* 

* As we have inserted in this chapter the newest map of the Sea of Galilee, 
it may ' be interesting to notice some of the older maps. The oldest map 
relating to Palestine we have been able to find is that called " Mappa Mundi," 
in Hereford Cathedral, a MS. of the date about a.d. 1310, very elaborate in 
its outlines, being symbolical and almost romantic. It shows the Abana and 
" Farfar " running into the Euphrates. Jordan has three streams — 'Tons 
Jor," " Tons Dan," and " Tons Torrens." On the east of where is now Port 
Said, there is marked " Sirbonis " (the "Sirbonian bog"), and other curious 
points are noted. Another and more useful map of Palestine, 400 years old, 
is in the library of the Royal Geographical Society. It is. about seven feet 
long, and carefully made, but probably without visiting all the localities. 
Distances between important places are given in a list, and in the book of 
which the title is " The Itineraries of Wiliam Wey, Fellow of Eton College, 
to Jerusalem, a.d. 1458, and a.d, 1462," 

From the original manuscript in the Bodleian Library, printed for the 
Roxburgh Club (London, 1857), at p. 138, is the following list of distances 
in Roman miles : 
Milliario 4° a Bethsayda est Coroazym. 
" 2" a Coroazim est Cedar, 

" 2° a Capharnaum est descensus montis in quo dominus predicabat turbis. i 
" 2° a Genesaret est Magdalum castrum.^ 
" 2° a Magdalo Castro est Tyberiadis.3 

" 16° a Nazareth contra Mare Galilee est Genazareth vicus iu quo Christus 
misit legionem demonum iu porcos. 

1 After this entry is inserted in the similar list on the map— Milliario p" a descensn 
est locus in quo dominus pavit V millia horainum ex V panibus et dnobus piscibus, 

2 In the map list this is " oppidum," but on the face of the map it is " castrum." 

3 In the map this is— Milliario 1° a Magdalo Cenereth vel Tiberias; (and then fol- 
lows this) Milliario 4° a Tyberiade Bethuliaci. 



378 



MAPS. 



(a.d. 1462) places it near Jordan, yet the definite distances 
he gives in his list do not favor this position. On the 
whole, then, the evidence seems to be much in favor of 
Khan Minyeh from (1.) Scripture, (2.) Josephus, (3.) old 
authors, (4.) modern travellers. So, having now delivered 
the verdict of her crew, the Eob Eoy may be hauled ashore, 
and safe among the bushes, tired, but not weary, we wel- 
come the sweet rest of night, that link of peace in the chain 
of pleasant days. 

^ Erom Dan to Beersheba, 160 milliaria. rrom Joppa to Jordan 60 mil- 
liaria. 

The map represents the Sea of Galilee as a long narrow lake, with large 
fish in it. (In the Dead Sea several buildings are depicted under water), 
and among other features we notice that on the east of Jordan are Chorazin, 
Godera^ and Gedarennes. Capharnaum is at the north-west, and Magdala 
close to it, with a stream between. Bethsaida is farther west up this stream, 
and on the same side as Capernaum. To the south of Magdala is Beth- 
saida, and then Genereth, and west of that is Tabor. Kades is at the south- 
west of the lake, and West of that is Carmel ; to the north of which is Cai- 
pha, on a stream. The relative apparent distances between the towns on 
the map do not at all correspond Avith those stated in the list. 

In "Hondius his Map of Terra Sancta," printed in a.d. 1624 (Purchas's 
" Pilgrims, " vol. v. p. 91), the position of the towns is as follows: West of 
Jordan we have Capernaum at the north end, then a stream, and south of 
that Bethsaida, Magdala, Tarichese, a stream, Tiberias, and then Jordan ; 
east of Jordan we have Chorazin, and Julias at the north end ; then Gadara 
(in the centre of the east shore), a stream. Hippos, and Jordan. 

In D'Amville's map (a.d. 1794), Capernaum is on the north-west shore 
of the lake. Prom Gilboa the Kishon flows, and a river running to the Sea 
of Gahlee. Mageda is marked south of Phiale, Gadera on the east of the 
lake at Khersa. In the Talmud, Kefr Ahim is noticed with Chorazin, also 
Tanhoum, Tanhoumin, Tehoumin (Neubauer, " Geog. Talm.,"221). 



SEA OF GALILEE. 



381 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Sea of Galilee. — Magdala. — Dalmanutha. — Ain Bareideli. — Tiberias. — The 
Jews. — East Travellers. — American Confessions. — How to see England. — 
A rainy Day. — Earthquake. — Shore south of Tiberias. — Hot Swimmers. — 
South-west Shore. — Night, — Joyous. — Size of the Lake. — Kerak. — Euins. 
— Exit of Jordan. — Down Stream. — Molyneux and Lynch. — Earewell. 

"As when in heaven the stars about the moon 
Look beautiful, Avhen all the winds are laid, 
And every height comes out and jutting peak 
And valley, and the immeasurable heavens 
Break open to the highest, and the stars 
Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart." 

The silence on this shore of Genesareth is perfect — al- 
most startling, but in the dark stillness there comes a muf- 
fled sound, with regular beat, yet as from afar. Let us 
look through this chink in the tent on the beautiful picture 
of the night, seen by old Homer, and told in Greek, which 
the Laureate of England has rendered as we give it above. 
The sound we -hear is the plash of oars in that little fishing- 
boat gliding past like a vision. She is coming back after 
a night of toil, and the chant of her crew gives the time to 
their oars, and then it floats over the lake to the Rob Roy, 
listening in her oleander-bed. 

Next day our camp moved to Tiberias.'^ We have al- 
ready described what we saw in the canoe and on horse- 
back along the shore until Magdala is reached at the south- 
ern end. The place is called Mijdel now, and is only a 
poor village, without beauty or cleanliness, at once the only 
pollution of the lake by its slovenly disorder, and the only 
town all round the shores retaining the name it had before. 

In Mark xiv. we are told how Christ was anointed by 
"the wonian that was a sinner," and the promise of our 

* Tiberias is mentioned only once (John vi. 23), except as part of the name 
of the lake. 



382 



MAGDALA. 



Lord that, " Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached 
throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done 
shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." It is remarka- 
ble that, while the deed is thus embalmed in universal 
memory, the name of the woman is not mentioned here, 
but if it was indeed the Mary of Magdala then the name 
of her town has been for some good reason still preserved 
by the Arabs of Asia, and was assumed for the great for- 
tress of Theodore by the Abyssinians of Africa.^ Here it 
is interesting to read what an Israelite has written about 
Magdala. Citing Jewish authorities for details, the Eabbi 
Schwartz says (p. 189) that Migdal is the village Medjdl. 
"This town is also called by the Christians Magdelenia," 
and is alluded to in the Talmud. " Migdal Kuniaf is one 
mile from Tiberias." The identity of this Mijdel and Mag- 
dala is also stated by Quaresmius. In Mark viii. 10, the 
place called Magdala by Matthew is styled "the parts of 
Dalmanutha,":}: and if the word in Mark means Magada, 
which may have been on the east side of the lake, then 
Dalmanutha may be the Dalhamia (or Dalmamia) mentioned 
by Thomson as on the Jordan below Kerak,§ and which 
would accord well with Christ's route "from the coasts of 

* Magdala may be the :\Iigdal-el of Joshua xix. 38 (Stanley). In Matt 
XV. 21, is stated the incident of the woman in the coasts of T}'re, to whom 
the Saviom' said. *■ O woman, great is thy faith." After this He came "nigh 
imto the Sea of Galilee," and fed the four thousand upon "a mountain." 
Then "he took ship, and came nnto the coasts of Magdala." 

This name has long been supposed to be inserted for some other name. 
The Sinai and the Vatican ]\ISS. read "^Magadan" instead of "Magdala,"' 
and Magedan may have been on the eastern side. It is so marked in Hon- 
dius's map in 1624. All the MSS. read " the ship here, and the Sinai and 
Vatican do so also in ]\Iark viii. 10 (the parallel passage), showing, perhaps, 
that it was the vessel regularly employed, as would be consistent with the 
rest of the stoiy. 

+ It will be seen from jNIap VII. that Magdala is three miles from Tiberias 
on a straight com'se by water, and a little farther going by the path on 
shore. jSTeubauer ("Geog. Talm." p. 217) mentions ]Migdal Xunia (tower 
of fishers) as a diiferent place from Magdala. and the Talmud says this latter 
was destroyed because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. 

i In the Vatican MS. "Dalmanuntha " (Tauchnitz). 

§ " The Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. GO. 



AIN BAKEIDEH. 



385 



Tyre and Sidon imto the Sea of Galilee through the coasts 
of Decapolis.""'^ This explanation would appear to place 
the miracle of the "four thousand " on the east shore,f and 
thus the Bethsaida they came to afterwards (Mark viii. 22) 
would be that on the west coast, which would be a likely 
place for them to go to for the bread which they had for- 
gotten. 

Just behind Magdala the hills again rise abruptly to the 
height, as Wilson estimates, of one thousand feet. From 
this point, all the way to Tiberias, I found an inhospitable 
shore bristling with breakers, sunken rocks, and treacher- 
ous reefs. Some few of these look like islands. One is 
only about an inch under water, though a hundred yards 
from shore, and on the whole we may regard this to be the 
most dangerous coast of the whole circuit. The Wady el 
Am mas sends a hot spring into the cool water about a mile 
from Magdala. The little triangular plain at Fuliyeh (just 
overhanging the lake) corresponds to the particulars given 
in Matthew xv., as Wilson also considers, who describes 
three springs here giving together a little more water than 
the round fountain at Ain et Tin. The centre spring is 
open, and the water runs down to the lake. The two oth- 
ers are inclosed, probably for mill purposes, and 
the structures may be the circular Roman baths 
^ noticed by Irby and Mangles. Though warm, 
the water of these fountains is sweet to the 
taste. They are called "Ain Bareideh," "cold 
Z^TEu^lIu fountain.":): The stream from these (and I think 
BAEEiDEu. r^iso from another lower fountain) gushes into 

* Mark 31. Or as the Sinai and Vatican MSS. have it, "from the 
coasts of Tyre, he came through Sidon nnto the Sea of GaHlee." 
t See also Robinson (vol. iii. p. 278). 

X Thomson says that the Arabs do not apply this name to them. Possibly 
the temperatm-e may have been altered by the earthquake. On January 29, 
1866, Wilson found the temperature of these as follows . 

Degrees. 

Temperature of the air 64*76 Fahrenheit. 

" north spriug 84-76 " 

" central spring 80-6 " 

" south spring 85*46 " 

B2 




386 



TIBERIAS. 



the lake, where the heated water remains so distinct from 
the rest that you can put one hand on each side of the boat 
with about 20° difference in the warmth of the water. To 
the south of the two buildings over the hot springs, there 



in four feet water, and has walls of rubble masonry four 
feet thick, and much eaten away by the waves. These 
walls appear to have encircled a pool, in which there is now 
a hot spring. The cliff seems to cut it off from the nearer 
of the two others. The detached part has at between it 
and the rest, a passage from three to four feet deep, about 
a foot broad, and covered by hammered stones, as repre- 
sented in the sketch. Where the dotted line shows the 
water-level, several of the stones are in situ, but others 
have fallen down. The passage looks like a water-channel, 
and the inclosure resembles a bath rather than part of a mill. 

The Eob Eoy next arrived at Tiberias, and a crowd 
gathered soon on the shore, and pressed so close upon me 
that it was with more difficulty than usual the canoe could 
be shouldered and carried through the narrow lanes to the 
locanda, a guest-house, doing half duty for a hotel, when oc- 
casionally travellers are unwise enough to leave canvas 
homes for stone prisons. In the great arched room, whose 
walls were ten feet thick and scarcely lighted, the canoe 
lay stretched upon the floor, and her captain on a divan. 
Part of my tent was hung across the room to screen it a 
little from the women-folks who came in and out, night 
and day, and who could now see the boat to far better ad- 
vantage by peeping over and under the very feeble bar- 
rier we had placed to guard our privacy. Poor bodies! 
they did their best in civility and activity, and so did their 
other 2^6^11(1^6721 lodgers, whose diminutive size was made 
up for by their myriads of numbers, so that long before mid- 
night I had pronounced all houses to be wretched every- 




are remains of a building 



COVERED PASSAGE IN SEA-WALL. 



. . in the water not likely 

to be remarked from the 
land. The sketch shows 
a plan of this, which stands 



THE JEWS. 



389 



where, and this one detestable, in comparison with the clean- 
ly comfort of a tent. When ToorieJi^ the pretty girl of this 
hospice, brought the "Visitors' Book" for my name to be 
inscribed, she evidently was in happy ignorance of the com- 
ments made in every page of it by each traveller who had 
survived his stay. In charity and truth combined, I could 
only write that the Eob Eoy and myself had stopped there 
two nio-hts, and that the canoe was not devoured. The 
town of Tiberias is chiefly remarkable for the exceeding 
filthiness of most of its streets, and especially in the Jews' 
quarter. How any civilized European Jew can see his 
people degraded as they are in Tiberias, and then come back 
to his own gilded home in the west, and leave his brethren 
to wallow in such a mess beside that lovely lake, is beyond 
conception. Jews amongst us Gentiles in England have re- 
finement, cleanliness, luxury, and elegance — why don't they 
send to the Kabbis of Gralilee, at any rate, besoms and 
soap.* 

Our attack upon the people's nastiness in this city is not 
too severe, nor is it made by an enemy, but by a friend of 
the " nation scattered and peeled " — one who reveres theit 
name, their past and their future ; who admires their pa- 
tience and pluck, their learning, science, and art, their musi- 
cal talent, their military prowess, their schools and asylums, 
their fitness for every post, premier, banker, and senior 
wrangler, any thing perhaps that men can be (except a 
sailor) ; but who wonders how with all their love of their 
people and their land they leave it to us Christians to 
searh for their records among the rubbish — how they never 
ask the world for what the world would give them free, 
their own beloved Palestine, while they still with obstinate 
persistence cling to a hopeless hope. 

Let us leave this filthy town, and hie to the mountain 
brow. The climb up slopes of smiling green mid sweet 
perfumes of the flowery grass, and painted glittering flies 
that dance in warm sunlight and buzz their short hour of 

* In Tiberias I read the "Times,'' telling of millions of gold left by Roths- 
child's will. 



890 



FAST TRAVELLERS. 



life, brings us to the highest hill from Tvhich the lake is 
seen outspread below. It is a precious hour, the contem- 
plation of so grand a scene, grand, I mean, not by bigness 
of mass in mountains, or b}" other mere earthly features, 
but because each snowy peak, ea-ch jutting point, each swell- 
ing mound, each trickling stream before us, is tl:e centre of 
a hundred thoughts within about things that are grandest 
of all in the universe — the deeds of Grod made man, the 
message of the Ambassador of Peace to a rebel world, the 
promises of the King of Heaven to the poor lost sinners of 
earth. Surely it does not need a fanciful or even an im- 
asfinative mind to feel that there can be character and al- 
most soul in scenery. The face of a hero we gaze upon 
with admiration, though his eye is only a lens, and his brain 
is but phosphorus, and his bones are lime. Palestine is the 
visible embodiment of the most wonderful and holy deeds 
and thoughts that have lived upon this world. The linea- 
ments of what is noble and righteous and wise are shining 
here, though the lake is only water, and the hills are only 
stone. 

We are rhapsodizing on this mountain ; let us get down 
again to the mud. On the slope below, we found an 
American in his tent, ^s'ext mornins; he was o^one. 
These cousins of ours do do their sight-seeing so uncom- 
mon quick. About thirty of them I met at various times 
in this voj^age, but not a word or look from any one that 
meant appreciation or enjoyment of the wondrous land 
they had scurried through. If this vice of foolish swift- 
ness in a country which 3^ou can not " skim " (for the 
cream of it is not at the top) were incurable as well as in- 
herent in these people, it would be cruel to notice it ; but 
it is the vice of a few, and it is curable. Yet all Ameri- 
cans incur the blame for it. They are sensitive to public 
outcry against their countrymen, though they are far more 
meek under censure than John Bull, and, no doubt, once 
sufficiently stirred up by friendly plainness upon this })oint, 
the Americans will surely organize a " caucus" on such a 
national stigma and will rub it off, or hold a "convention*" 



AMEEICAN CONFESSIONS. 



391 



and put it down. At any rate, now it is the most rabid 
nuisance in the East."^ Some of the very best Oriental 
travellers are Americans : need we cite Dr. Kobinson's 
name, or Dr. Thomson's ? But nine out of ten of those 
who come from " the States " to see the world, pass through 
it, and over it, and see almost nothing. This is partly be- 
cause they allow, say, a year for the grand tour, and few minds 
can travel for a year in different countries with any proper 
zest and purpose all the time. Partly, too, it is owing to 
the fact that in America you can see nearly all as you 
move by rail or steamer over the wide continent. The 
towns there are uninteresting, architecturall3^ Partly, it 
is because men, badly educated, but rapidly rich, often try 
to cram knowledge by running after it over the world. 
Partly, again, it is because the love of ancient things needs 
to be fostered young, and Americans, therefore, do not and 
can not appreciate ruins or antiquities ; and, lastly, the un- 
fortunate lack of sentiment, romance, or quiet enjoyment 
of the dreamy past, is made stronger, if not perpetuated, by 
the speed of affairs, the unhappy " dollarism," the unceas- 
ing bustle, change, and excitement of an American's daily 
life in the dreary crowds of a huge hotel — the climate of 
his country being too for rest and peace, and the food 
he lives upon and the habits of his life heating body and 
mind to impatient hurry, even in the most captivating 
scenes, which can not be grasped in a glance, and which re- 
fuse to yield their precious sweets to a passing squeeze. 

* Here, for instance, is the conversation, almost verbatim, of two tourists 
at a hotel. The Avords can be written down, but the suffering and pity which 
other travellers feel for the hapless wights who are such slaves of speed, and 
whose gloomy careworn restlessness tells of their dreary task, can never be 
described. 

' ' Been to Jurden, sir ? 

' ' Yes, sir , come back 4 35 this afternoon. 

"Road — how's that? 

"Wal, sir, its rough, that's so — nothin' particular to see but scalded hills. 
Came back by Marsaba, and Neby — (Jane, what do they call it ?) You goin" 
to Jurden? take my word the Dead Sea is only a dull-like place, sir." 

And this man had been looking on the most sacred river in the world, and 
into the deepest hollow to be seen on earth. 



892 



AMERICAN CONFESSIONS. 



The better travellers from America deplore this sad de- 
fect in many of their countrymen, and it is to support 
these in protesting against this absurd sort of travelling, 
and to remedy the evil, that I venture to dwell upon the 
subject here, because our cousins know full well that our 
mutual criticisms are useful to both countries — whether 
they touch yachts, or boat crews, or travellers' ways — and 
that both Englishmen and Am.ericans are sensible enough 
to bear even a sharp word or two upon our special frail- 
ties. 

Once an American traveller entered Nazareth with me 
at eight o'clock in the evening. At half past four next 
morning he had left. In America he could say he had 
seen Nazareth. Another, who had journeyed in Syria, 
had omitted to visit Damascus. He could not bear this 
when talking with others, and he came back all the way 
to Beyrout with me, and rode to Damascus and back and 
embarked again. Another, being in quarantine with me, 
confessed that whole pages from " Murray " were sent 
home as her journal, and that she inserted in the " towns 
visited " all the stations on the London and Brighton Kail- 
way, which she had traversed once by train. Such a trav- 
eller can not really enjoy any one place, but is always 
speaking of the next place to be "done," and of the short- 
est time to do it in. 

The great mistake they make is to go to many spots, 
and over many miles, rather than to see some places well. 
Above all, the East must be seen deliberately. To run 
over it is exactly like looking at bright pictures in a book 
without reading a page of its print. The man who stops 
two days in one neighborhood, and who thus imbibes the 
air of the place, knows more of the whole land of Israel 
than if he had passed through five other places in the same 
day without resting, thinking, and pondering over what 
is around him. A young American told me lately he in- 
tended not to go to Palestine. He said, "All our Yankee 
tourists ' do ' the Holy Land. One of our cleverest girls 
in New York said to a learned minister who had just re- 



A EAINY DAY. 



393 



turned from his foreign tour, ' Well, did you go to Pales- 
tine ?' He replied (half ashamed), ' No, I did not.' ' Ah !' 
she said, ' I am so glad ; for I have been so much bored 
lately by all my friends who have come back from Pales- 
tine, and have been at Samaria, and at Bethlehem and uj^ 
Mount Tabor, and dotun to Jordan, and not one of them 
seems to know as much of the realities of the Holy Land 
as I can read in a school-book ; so I am quite delighted to 
meet a traveller who has 7iot been to Palestine.' " An 
American who had come to see Europe asked me in Lon- 
don, after having bestowed two days upon seeing the larg- 
est city in the world, " Can you tell me if I can go and see 
Birmingham, and Warwick Castle, and Kenilworth, and 
then Oxford, and go on to Southampton, all in one day ?" 
I answered that he could see a great deal more than that in 
one day, and it was a pity not to do as much as possible 
in the time ; and, as for his method of travelling, daylight 
was of no consequence — the best way would be to take a 
return ticket to Edinburgh, and start by the night mail, 
for then he could say that he had seen York Minster, and 
a whole host of English towns. 

Enough has been said about this class of travellers. 
They have little time to spend. This is their misfortune, 
and for that no blame attaches : but we complain that, 
having little time, they waste it by trying to stretch it 
over what it will not cover ; and thus they lose the bene- 
fits of a proper tour, they get little profit or pleasure them- 
selves, and they are bores to other travellers here ; they 
are unworthy representatives of their great and wonderful 
people, and thus they do wrong to themselves, to their na- 
tion, and to us. Against such I most earnestly protest, at 
least for Palestine and Egypt. If a man has only half an 
hour to read Longfellow's poems, he had far better read 
one or two of the best pieces right through than read a 
half-line on every page. 

At length there is a rainy day for the Rob Roy, and all 
day too. This was the only day in the tour that I could 
not walk, or ride, or boat ; but every hour of it was agree- 



EARTHQUAKE. 



ably filled npj and not a moment hung heavy on my 
hands. 

Murray's " Handbook for Syria " is, of itself, a most in- 
teresting work to peruse. In my opinion, it is the best of 
all Murray's Guide for Travellers. It gives just what you 
want to know, and in plain but pleasant style, with full 
explanation of Scripture allusions, and a devout spirit 
pervading the whole, as ought surely to be the case when 
it tells of the Holy Land.^ 

When the Bob Koy launched again from Tiberias, all 
the walls and house-roofs were covered with people come 
out to see ; so she turned about also to look at the sight 
on shore. The town juts out into deep water. Ugly cir- 
cular towers, built lately and badly, lean here and there, 
with huge cracks through their toppling sides. The earth- 
quake which occurred on Kew-y ear's Day in 1837 had its 
centre at Jish, but, in its wide revelry, it shook these bas- 
tions of Tiberias, and one would wish it had levelled them 
entirely. 

One relic of the more solid past remains — a wall of black- 
ened bevelled stone, that just tops the water for a hundred 
3'ards, and still proudly testifies to the better masons of bet- 
ter days gone by. The south end of this wall seemed to 
be a little lower than the other. This might be because 
more stone was left upon the north ; but a nearer examina- 
tion showed me that three courses of stones were above 
the water at the north end, and only two at the south, 
while the line of the bevel course was inclined ; so that 
the whole wall, unbroken, almost unshaken, had sunk 
down in one grand mass obliquely towards the south ; 
while the other rude white towers built yesterday — only 
a few hundred years ago — have staggered, jostling one 
ngainst the other, broken into melancholy wreck. Until 
my arrival in England, the importance of this observa- 
tion had not occurred to me, otherwise the exact length 
of the base, and the depth of the depression at one end, 

* No doubt Dr. Porter will take care that in future editions his letter-press 
is accompanied by a better map. 



DEEP AND HOT. 



395 



would have been easily measured. This can, of course, 
be done by any traveller, for there is usually a fishing-boat 
at Tiberias.^ 

On the shore, at the north end of the sea-wall, are nu- 
merous squared stones, detached and in the water, but 
nothing attracting particular attention until we reach the 
southern end of the wall. Open arches yawn above this 
place ; under one of these I thrust in the canoe, and so in- 
spected a fishing-boat therein beached. The remarkable 
sinking down of the south end of Tiberias is soon explain- 
ed when we paddle farther south along the shore. For 
there, about a mile only from the town, is the famous 
warm bath, always supplied from the heat of Yulcan's 
forges, deep in the earth, and from whence has flowed for 
ages a hot sulphurous stream. We must recollect that the 
Sea of Galilee itself is a great hollow, and at the bottom it 
is about 800 feet depressed into the crust of the earth. The 
surface of the water is so low that, if St. Paul's Cathedral 
were set upon the shore, and the lofty spire of Salisbury 
on the top of that, the summit of this pile would still be 
lower than the Mediterranean Sea. 

But the earth's cuticle seems also to be constitutionally 
thin in Galilee ; and hence it is that, when you stand upon 
one of the flat-roofed houses that overhang the lake, you can 
see to the left hot vapors rising from the boiling stream of 
Tabiga; while again, close on your right, the self-acting, 
self-heated warm bath of Emmaus is ready always for the 
weary traveller, or the soft idler, or the dirty public in 
general, to soothe and to please and to cleanse them under 
its dark dome. Hot water pouring out thus for thousands 
of years has, no doubt, still further thinned the skin of 
earth at this place ; so, when the earthquake came, proba- 
bly the crazy arch of rock gave way, and giants' halls be- 

* Our Lord does not appear to have entered Tiberias on any occasion. The 
reasons suggested for this are that (1.) it was full of foreigners, while He 
came first " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and (2.) Tiberias was 
built partly upon ground occupied by ancient sepulchres, and to enter this 
place would have made Him ceremonially " unclean." 



896 



UNDER THE ^YAVE. 



low were crushed together, and the wall of Tiberias sunk 
towards that side. 

Questions suggest themselves by the dozen about this — 
for the geologist, not for me. Has the wall, indeed, sunk 
at one end, or has it been raised at the other? Has the 
very shore of the lake sunk too? Has this sinking been 
to the south, along the rest of the lake ? If so, we shall 
find Jordan issuing there much lower, and therefore deeper 
now than it was of old ; but let us go and see. 

Glorious sunny weather now brightened the water as the 
Eob Eoy paddled on this errand, close by the pebbly shore, 
which here is of beautiful white. My camp was leisurely 
moving to Kerak, at the south end of the lake, and so 
there was plenty of time for a slow and careful survey of 
the coast under water. The ragged ones of Tiberias all 
rushed out to see the canoe so close ; therefore, to shake 
them off, and to have peace for my pleasant work, I went 
out to sea, and lolled the time away until their short pa- 
tience was exhausted ; then we came back to the survey. 
There are numerous ruins farther inland. Pillars stand, or 
lean, or lie quite flat, in the long grass. Massive walls at- 
test the remains of grand buildings here. The caves hol- 
lowed m the cliffs behind were, perhaps, the grottoes of 
country seats, and the lovelj^ lake was admired from many 
a Eoman villa, and shrined by temples of design most 
chaste, when here Josephus lived, and Titus led his admi- 
rable legions, and the fleet of Yespasian sailed with the sun 
upon bright Eoman shields, and Palestine was just giving 
up (but with a brave, hopeless struggle) its last shred of lib- 
erty; for the day of reproach had come, and desolation 
for the people. Yery much as might have been anticipat- 
ed, on approaching shore again, we soon found there were 
pillars and buddings quite visible under the clear waves, 
and which, before the earth sank here, must have been on 
the verge, " awash," if not perfectly dry on the beach. 
There was a little swell, but not too much to prevent me 
sketching these and measuring their depth nnder water. 
From the sketches and notes then made our plan is copied^ 



SHORE SOUTH OF TIBERIAS. 



397 



fl, large rubble Wiill. 



Wall. 



Small thick wall. 



SUBMEEGED REMAINS. 



/^^-^ - V " ^ « c 50 feet; 

.-vr--, of ""^^ter over b, 

' ;"iiV '-'..VC5'0 C^'" '^'^^'^ feet over c. 



Nothing more to be seen 
in this direction. 



Pillars on shore, one 
inclining. 



^ 6 White pillars and pedes- 

„ t'-'-, tal ; d 2 feet under \va- 
--^ tr--' ter,e5feet. 



Two pillars on the 
verge. 



White pillar awash. 



White pillar awash. 



O 

'''' k 



Four black pillars m siti(, 
2 feet under water; 2 
feet diameter, in depth 
of 4 feet ; pillars about 7 
feet apart. 



SUBMERGED EUIISS ALONG THE SHOEE SOUTH OF TIBEKIA8. 



398 



HOT SWIMMEES. 



which represents the part of the coast and the ruins sub- 
merged.* 

In the hot baths I found a number of naked and moist 
negroes, not very inviting to bathe among. One of them 
was playing a flute in the water. These baths have been 
a hundred times described. f They are rightly within our 
province, too, for a word or so, being water ; but we turn 
with more pleasant feelings to the cooler sparkling wave- 
lets of the lake itself Nothing was found under the sur- 
face here but a number of detached squared stones. A lit- 
tle farther on, bold cliffs descend into the water, and the 
road winds over their shoulders. Huge rocks, too, are in 
the lake just under these, and the Eob Eoy had threaded 
among these ; but nothing was there that might not be 
found in any other lake. 

The bays along this part are, therefore, all bad for boats, 
until the last bay, on the south-west in Map YIL, near the 
mound of Kerak, where an excellent beach shelves quickly 
to good anchorage in flat sandy gravel. There are remains 
of a pier, and the north-west wind is powerless in this bay. 

The lake narrows at its southern end, and a charming 

* The wall marked a will be easily recognized by any traveller, for it is a 
prominent object on the shore, and the ruins on shore are those indicated in 
Map VII. The dotted parts are under water. An hour was spent in examin- 
ing this short piece of coast, going backward and forward several times, so 
as to have the sun in front and behind, and working in parallel strips ; we 
may, therefore, hope that no object has been unobserved. 

t Thomson says the temperature of the baths had varied during twenty 
years from 136^ to 140^ (Fahr.). The springs were more copious for a time 
during the earthquake. He considers that the word "mules" in Genesis 
xxxvi. 24:, means ' ' warm waters. " 

Not very far from our own prosaic Temple (that in the City of London, 
E. C, not in Judea), we have the "Hummums" in Covent Garden, the 
same Arabic word meaning "Bath;" and in the Strand, close to Somerset 
House, is a splendid old Roman bath in excellent preservation, and with 
purest water running into it from the "Holy well," at the corner of a street 
called (almost in derision) by that name. Such a bath, Avith water in it, and 
so preserved, you can not find in Italy. If it were there, all travellers would 
be ashamed not to have seen it, but being in London, like many other most 
interesting Roman relics of our great capital, not one man in ten thousand 
even hears of its existence, though a great notice-board proclaims to all who 
walk upon the pavement, "To the Old Roman Bath." 



ANEMONES. 



399 



slope of green, with gentle knolls enlivening its outlines, 
shows where the desperate fight took place between the 
Jews at Tarichese and the heavy-mailed cohorts of Eome. 
'Now the place looks peaceful enough — with the peace of 
desolation. Bright anemones wave in the evening breeze; 
red is the most frequent color, but white ones are scattered 
too. In other localities there are blue anemones ; and in 
one spot by Jordan I noticed a red, a blue, and a white 
anemone, all three together. This conjunction is regarded 
as singular. 

There is some traffic along the bridle-path by the lake. 
You meet somebody almost every quarter of an hour. My 
muleteers had a palaver with each of these wayfarers, and 
showed off the Bob Roy as part of their property, while 
they praised her exploits in florid story. Then she drew 
to the shelving beach near Kerak, where we can lie on the 
shore in the sun for rest and refreshment. Here the lake 
banks are of red claj^, and the water is shallow along a 
shore of black sand, curved and indented by lagoons ; for 
here again will Jordan once more lay hold of the waters, 
and hurry them away still down with the "Descender," 
down to the dull Dead Sea. Our camp grows up in the 
evening air like mushrooms in the grass, and the canoe re- 
clines among the oleanders, and her crew under the palm- 
tree by our tent.* This is quite away from all intruders, 
and no dwelling is in sight but our own ; so Kerak is the 
place for a quiet Sunday, when the beautiful lake is beside 
the Sacred Book, for now, indeed, we can read a pictorial 
Bible. 

What a relief to be out of that house at Tiberias 1 What 
a delightfid change to be again in a tent by the sea! In- 
stead of the dark draughty room, with no view, no comfort, 
no privacy, now I have the fairest green prospect facing 
me as I recline ; the sweetest air a'round, the light of heaven 
above, and the sentiment and romance of a wandering life 
for a quiet undercurrent of enjoyment. 

* The Talmud speaks of the fishers in their holidays resting by the lake 
(Neubaiier, p. 213). 



•iOO 



KIGHT. 



That squalling child, too, in that Jews' barrack we have 
left; how inhuman the mother w^as to let it cr}^ all day and 
most of the night ! Once I W' ent in and told her so. She 
stopped it, and the little creature was quite pleased. In- 
stead of this wa'etched music, we hear now the gentle plash 
of waves on the clean and sparkling beach, the soft breath- 
ing of the evening breeze, the tinkling of the mules' bells 
as they graze to their full in richest clover, and the meny 
laugh from the other tent, or the chop of a hatchet as the 
men gather w^ood for the fire. The mountains of Bashan 
have sunk into a sombre outline of deep shade, and the 
twinkling stars are about us; but just before me they seem 
to be paler, w^hile the dark of the sky is tinted by a faint 
unusual light. See, this gets stronger now, and at last, in 
silent inexpressible beaut}^, slowd}^ rises the bright full 
moon, and in a moment the Sea of Galilee is changed into 
silver, wnth ten thousand sparkles from the opposite shore 
in a blazoned path right up to the very weaves at my feet. 
Yes ; it is better here than in unj house of stone. 

Spring had fiiirly begun, with all its fresh beauties, on 
this 29th of January. The herbage was profuse about us, 
and the mules rolled over and over in its soft luxurious 
coolness. Fancy rolling upon one's food, and eating up 
one's mattress ! 

Hany and his men and his beasts were as merrj^ as could 
be. None of us had a frown or a care, or the least bit of 
anxiety. Architects, be they never so clever, can not build 
us a house half so pleasant as the tent. In front is my boat, 
too, a span from the water, all re^dj for launching in a mo- 
ment; while my horse is tugging at his halter, and ready 
for a ride, if that is better than a sail. The wnsh and a word 
is enough to start either of these ; but our mountain boots 
are clamorous for a climb. On with them, then : and in 
the balmy daybreak we w^ander awa}^ alone, gradually 
mounting, expanding the prospect, w\atching the great 
silent clouds that veil the hot sun, but wdth no threatening 
gloom ; the far-off patches on the water like roughened 
glass under the "cat's paws" on the lake; the Jordan, 



SIZE OF THE LAKE. 



401 



marked for thirty miles, as it pours out upon its last quick 
journey to the vale of death the distant Bethsaida ; the 
green tenantless Genesareth ; the dumb shattered towers of 
Tiberias, only bearable among the beauties of nature, be- 
cause any thing looks pretty when reflected in the lake ; the 
hills of Bashan opposite, with Gamala unbuilt again since 
its last terrible destruction ; the meadows of the Gadarenes 
in blue distance, scene of the story read so long ago ; the 
hill of the five thousand below ; and behind us Mount Ta- 
bor, and the groves of Deborah, and that great, wide level, 
outstretched away, away to dimness on the horizon, the rich 
mysterious plain of Jezreel. Who would not go to Palestine 
to see a sight like this, and for such a Sunday walk, which 
a lifetime of week-days can not wear out from our memory? 

A mere speck now is my tent by the shore, but still we 
feel "it is a home." From this high point we have, on the 
whole, the best land-view of the lake from the west ; but 
the prettiest view from the water we have yet to see. 

From north to south of the lake is 12|- miles long. 
Across the widest part from Magdala is 6f miles. Sound- 
ings show its depth to be less than 200 feet in any part.f 

Kerak is the ancient Tarichese, a name well known in the 
writings of Josephus.J Its position at the end of the lake 
is shown by the plan on p. 402, and you can readily see 
how it was made a strong fortress, and for many ages. It 

* The valley of Jordan has been from an early period an almost unpro- 
ductive desert. " The curse which rests upon it seems to date with the de- 
struction of Sodom" (Newbold, "Journal of the Asiatic Society," xvi. 24). 

t The length of the lake given by Josephus is 140 stadia, or sixteen miles, 
which is much too large, unless he means the distance by land, which would 
then be nearly correct. He gives the breadth as forty stadia, or about four 
miles and a half, which, again, is much too small, unless he reckons it from 
opposite Tiberias, where it is only about four miles and three-quarters. 

Abulfeda gives the length as twelve miles, and the breadth six (Bucking- 
ham, p. 345). All modern travellers, except Robinson, have erred in their 
estimates, and usually make them too large, but Buckingham gives eight 
miles long, and six miles broad, and says the plain above is ten miles square. 

If the Jordan could be dammed up at the Hooleh, it would form a lake 
there of nearly the same size, shape, and depth as the Sea of Galilee. 

X He places it thirty stadia south of Tiberias ("Jewish War," book iii. eh. 
X. sec. i.). 

Co 



402 



KERAK. 



was built on a triangular mound, about fifty feet high and 
four hundred yards in length, which was made into an isl- 
and by the water led round it. Though bits of masonry, 
almost hidden in tall grass, were once stroug walls about 
this hill, the Jordan forms a fosse on one side, while the 
lake guards another, and an artificial lagoon is towards the 
mainland. The remains of a causeway westward from the 
mound show how it was approached when insulated. [The 
Ordnance Map, surveyed, no doubt, when the lake was 
high, shows water all round. We have ventured to alter 




JORDAN'S EXIT FEOM THE LAKE. 



this because we found it dry. We have also placed the 
name Hippos on Map YII.] When Titus and Yespasian 
finally subdued other towns of Palestine just before the 
grand catastrophe of the doomed capital, they came at last 
to Taricheae, and Josephus tells us of the siege.* The des- 

* "Jewish War," book iii. ch. ix. sec. x. He speaks of prisoners taken 
there, and sent to "the Isthmus." Was this to work upon the Roman canal ? 



RUINS. 403 

olate mound so silent now was once a great city teeming 
with people and sounding with the shouts of the brave. and 
the din of battering-rams.* The north front has a long 
beach with oleanders, and the water is very clear and not 
deep. In paddling over it we could see every object for 
twenty feet below, yet not one large stone could be de- 
tected along this point — only a few flat slabs and soft 
mossy banks of weed. But on shore it was very different. 
Kerak has a mine of relics to be dug out when benevolent 
contributors will pay the diggers, whom our Palestine Ex- 
ploration Fund would willingly send there to dig. In the 
steep sides of the clay cliff, and buried by upright masses 
piled twenty feet above them, are fine Roman pavements 
with patterns of tesserae, which stick out even now in sec- 
tion on the face of the hill, and you may poke them down 
by hundreds with your cane, for the debris is soft, and the 
relics are on a level with the eye of one standing on the 
beach. This beach, too, is one mass of curiosities, but 
most of them are much worn by the water and the grind- 
ing of the gravel. One relic among many I got here was 
exhibited lately at the Egyptian Hall and in Liverpool, 
where it deservedly attracted attention, not from its excel- 
lence as a work of art, but from its homely and quaint ap- 
pearance. It is the figure of a little donkey with water- 
jars, wrought in terra cotta (for which this town was fa- 
mous), but the waves of twenty centuries have worn the 
donkey's legs to stumps, have washed off one of the jars 
from his back, and have scrubbed his long ears so short 
that they seem only the size of a cat's.f Near it I picked 

* In front of this beach was fought the only sea-battle between the Jews 
and the Romans (see ante, p. 344). The plain to the west is called Ard el 
Mellaha by Seetzen, 

t The Sultan has recently given strict command that no antiquities shall be 
removed from Turkey. He is forming a museum at Constantinople. A 
Greek there, who has a museum, encourages the scheme, because he can thus 
recruit his own. If this order is carried out, real mummies will rise in price 
in Egypt. Sham ones are constantly sold. Not long ago the man who made 
sham idols brought for sale to an Englishman the brass mould for casting the 
counterfeit images ! 



404 



EXIT OF JORDAN. 



up some gypsum, and this substance also is mentioned as 
found near Tarichese. Some huts at the end of the great 
mound are concealed until you come just above them, and 
here is the ferry-boat, for which the ferrymen live in those 
little straw mansions among the bushes. 

Our next pleasant voyage was along this shore at Ke- 
rak, but as it was then too windy and therefore muddy to 
see well under water, the Eob Eoy turned south at the end 
and went into the Jordan. An able and interesting writer 
says of this place, " The Jordan leaves the lake in an ordi- 
nary manner." Kow, the plan of this scene already given 
was sketched from the high hill above, and corrected from 
Kerak mound, and again on the water, and we appeal to 
all dispassionate readers. Can this way of leaving a lake be 
called an " ordinary manner?" The Jordan, indeed, glides 
into the Sea of Galilee quietly enough, but its exit is very 
strange. The east point of Kerak is high, and below it 
there juts oat a promontory, with thick trees growing in 
the water. The stream runs fast through these, and the 
canoe cut across this leafy cape and then swept round the 
bay just in front of the ferrymen, who ran out uproarious- 
ly shouting, but were soon distanced as the powerful cur- 
rent hurried us along. Here the river is more than a 
hundred feet wide, and probably about four feet deep. 
The east bank is twenty feet high and quite steep, except 
at one place, where some ruins look like the piers of a 
bridge at first, but not so much when better examined."^ 
Behind Kerak the river bends west and then east under 
high cliffs, and with canes and reeds through the current 
is merry enough. So it winds right and left until we 
reach an Arab camp. From this the people rushed out 
en masse, but the Kob Eoy was too fast to be caught, and 
after a mile or so we came to the ruins of the old bridge, 
Em el Kanater (mother of arches), of which nine or ten 
piers still stand in the stream, which is liere about a hun- 
dred yards broad. My reason for spending a little time 

* When Kerak was Taricheee, there might have been a bridge here, but 
the foundations, I think, would be unsteady. 



MOLYNEUX AND LYNCH. 



405 



on this lower Jordan was not witli the intention of cruis- 
ing along that. Twice already it has been descended in a 
boat, first by an Englishman, Lieutenant Molyneux, in 
1847, and then by the American, Lynch, in 1848. All 
that they saw can be well seen from the shore, and these 
two difficult and troublesome voyages did not add any 
thing to our knowledge of Jordan's stream that might not 
be noticed on horseback. The Eob Koy had gone rather 
to what could only be seen from a boat, and what no boat 
had done before, and whether in the Abana, the Pharpar, 
the lakes of Damascus, Hooleh, and Genesareth, or after- 
wards also in the Kishon and the Belus, the aim was to hit 
upon new ground and new water, or to examine the old 
ways in a new manner, so as to add new facts rather than 
to reiterate.* But it was interesting to run down this up- 
per end of the lower Jordan, just to see the few first rapids 
that caused Mr. Lynch so many hours of work, but which, 
with the canoe, were passed in a few minutes. Lynch had 
two boats, one of them made of copper, and he had sixteen 
men. ISTo wonder then that with such a fleet to float he 
speaks of " twenty-seven dangerous rapids " on the lower 
Jordan. Molyneux had one boat (a ship's dinghy), and he 
found the passage easier, though his voyage ended in 
trouble and in death. f To descend all the way in a canoe 
would have been easy enough, but cui hono The banks 

* The Jordan seems never to haA-e been navigable for traffic. If any boat 
Avent down the loAver part before Molyneux, or the upper part before the Eob 
Roy, it must have been for exploration. Josephus mentions ships in the 
Dead Sea (" JeAvish War," book \\. ch. viii. sec. iv.), Avhere he tells us the 
sailors in them used to gather the bitumen floating on the Avater. He also 
speaks of the Ammonites as having passed OA^er the Dead Sea to attack En- 
gedi, in Jehoshaphat's time. Yet is it clear that the Greek Avords rriv 
7u^vr]v SiaSavreg" are rightly translated by " superato lacu," and "passed 
over the lake," so as to imply the use of boats? (Josephus, " Antiq. of the 
Je^\'s," book ix. ch. i. sec. ii.) 

NeAvbold says ("Journal of the Asiatic Society," a'oI. XAn. p. 23) "that 
Ave hear no mention of boats or bridges in the different passages of the Israel- 
ites." Ferry-boats, hoAvever, seem to have- been established very early; AA^e 
I. ear of one for the Jordan in 2 Samuel xix. 28. 

t See a short notice of it in the Appendix. 



406 



FAREWELL TO JORDAN". 



are high. There is no view to see, and nothing but heat 
and gravel and Arabs to meet with, wasting much time, 
muscle, and money, but without even the prospect of any 
new knowledge to be gained. Therefore, as it was wise to 
use the convenient portability of the canoe to take her to 
rivers hitherto untraversed, I resolved to haul up after a 
few miles* on the Jordan's lower stream, and to take her 
to untried waters, a resolution amply rewarded, as will be 
seen farther on. We brought her back to camp on horse- 
back, and the vocal Adoor improvised his (carefully pre- 
pared) song of the " Shaktoorah done with Galilee." 

Yet in the calm watches of the night, when all was quiet 
beside, a low sweet murmuring from the river seemed to 
float as a whisper in my tent. 

So had it been for how many thousand years, ever 
streaming on its fluent story. 

Sleep's curtain gently folds us now in dream-land, where 
the soft music melts into a liquid shadowy picture of great 
things and people mingled in long procession, and the riv- 
er tells us over again the wonders of its source, the swift- 
ness of its fall, and the silence of its end — the events that 
happened by its banks, the miracles wrought upon its wa- 
ters, the mysteries about its lakes, the glory shining on it 
from our Saviour at his baptism., his transfiguration, and 
his appearance after He rose again. 

Surely the Jordan is by far the most wonderful stream 
on the face of the earth, and the memories of its history 
will not be forgotten in Heaven. 

* About six miles from the lake, the Yarmuk enters from the east, having 
had its sources not far from those of the Phai-par. The Arabs call the 
YaiTQuk and the Jabbok or Zerka "Shereea," meaning a watering-place. 
They apply this name, too, to Jordan, but adding the title " Great." Below 
this there is the first bridge now practicable, the Jisr Mejaama, so called 
because it is at a "meeting of the waters," after another set of islands had 
divided them. 



IN THE LAKE. 



407 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

In the Lake. — Strange Swell. — A Storm. — Submerged Ruins. — The "Herd 
of Swine." — Semakh Village. — Hippos. — High Sea. — Vale of Doves. — 
Long last Look. — Cana. — Nazareth. — Old Sights. — Sights unseen. — Plain 
Words. 

"Full many a glorious morning have I seen 

Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye, 
Kissing with glowing face the meadows green, 
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy." 

It was just such a morning now as Shakspeare thus de- 
scribes. The gray veil of hoar frost melted on the face of 
day, and the crisp air softened into a warm dalliance, gen- 
tly beguiling the Rob Roy to linger about in a languid 
laziness. Cease, pleasant dawdling ! Our crew is piped to 
work, and with steady stroke to reach again the farthest 
point we had touched on our first day's course ; for now 
we must complete our tour of the shore all round the sea. 

In traversing the centre of the lake, I came rather sud- 
denly upon a novel sight. The smooth surface of the wa- 
ter was undulated in short sharp swells, without any wind 
whatever, and none for hours before. These waves were 
exactly east and west in the ridges, and of the form and 
size of " steamboat waves " upon the Thames. They had 
a uniform width of fifteen feet, and my bow often dipped 
deep in one as my stern left the other. Perhaps the cause 
of this is some volcanic perturbation either of the water or 
of its bed below. Molyneux noticed something of the same 
kind in the Dead Sea, and precisely in the same direction, 
north and south. On the very deep part of the Rhine also, 
as it issues from Lake Constance, I observed a similar ap- 
pearance, but never elsewhere, when afloat.* 

* Just below the whirlpool at Niagara, the eddies curl like this. All 
these, however, are in currents, but I could not detect the slightest current 
here in Genesareth. Neubauer ("Geog. Talm."p. 31) says the Talmud 



408 



STKAKGE SWELL. 



The wind soon brought the ordinary waves upon the 
lake, and these confused the previous distinctness of this 
ground swell. When I was near the middle of the lake, 
on another occasion, the water was not calm, and so the 
phenomenon was not observed. It is not unlikely that 
the assertion is correct that the Jordan does, in fact, run 
through the lake, without much mingling with the other 
waters ; and I remark that some persons who deny this 
have passed but few hours upon the Sea of Galilee, but a 
longer stay is needed for evidence in such a question. 

Great heat soon poured down from the fierce sun, and 
"something," we thought, "must come of this brilliant 
glare." Gentle zephyrs breathed from behind me ; then 
they lulled; then other little airs fanned my cheek on 
the right, and then these, too, quite waned away to calm. 
Patches of the smooth mirror again were ruffled on our left 
by squalls from the north-west right ahead. But the sun 
killed them one after the other, and I steadily advanced — 
yet all the time aware that this son of weather was not to 
be trusted. 

Just as the Eob Eoy passed below Wady Fik, a strange 
distant hissing sounded ahead, where we could see that a 
violent storm was raging. Instantly all hands were on 
the alert to meet it. The waves had not time to rise. 
The gusts had come down upon calm water, and they 
whisked up long wreaths of it into the sky. The sea-birds 
sailed with the roaring blast, which rushed on with foam 
and fury, but it found the Rob Eoy all ataunto. This tor- 
rent of heavy cold air was pouring over the mountain 
crests into the deep caldron of the lake below, a headlong 
flood of wind, like a waterfall into the hollow ; just as is 
said in Luke (viii. 23) — " there came down a storm of 
wind upon the lake." 

The peculiar effects of squalls among mountains are 
known to all who have boated much on lakes, but on the 
Sea of Galilee the wind has a singular' force and sudden- 
mentions the phenomenon on Jordan. But it also says that Jordan runs 
into the Mediterranean Sea ! 



SUBMERGED RUINS. 



409 



ness ; and this is, no doubt, because the sea is so deep" in 
the world that the sun rarifies the air in it enormously, 
and the wind, speeding swift above a long and level pla- 
teau^ gathers much force as it sweeps through flat deserts, 
until suddenly it meets this huge gap in the way, and it 
tumbles down here irresistible. 

With my best efforts I could scarcely stem the force of 
this head-wind, though I was in excellent training, and my 
canoe in her lightest trim. But every moment lost now in 
getting to the cliffs for shelter would make the work ten 
times harder afterwards, when the sea had time to rise. 
By pressing onward, then, with every nerve, and with 
more exertion 'than at any time during the cruise, we 
gained at last the windward shore, and here we could look 
with safe amazement at the scud of the gale, careering 
across the lake, and twisting the foam in the air as if tied 
in knots of spray, which sparkled in the sun like ten thou- 
sand diamonds, while the sea-birds still flew helplessly 
down wind. 

The reward of exertion in pure fresh air like this is to 
find our craft snugly nestling under thick trees in perfect 
calm, and safe from all the bobbery. This luxurious rest 
was enjoyed at the very same spot of the Wady Semakh, 
where the Eob Eoy had rested on our first day's cruise, 
and yet how long a time it seemed since then ! So many 
pleasant things had been thought, and done, and said, and 
sung, and read, and written. Just so; but now we are en- 
titled to lunch. Swift as the tempest had come down, it 
vanished away as swiftly, and when "we turned our bow to 
sea again, there was only a fine fresh breeze and common 
waves to meet. 

Just south of the tell, near the mouth of the river, by 
Khersa, is some heavy rubble masonry, of which part has 
fallen into deeper water. A few cut stones are sub- 
merged, but no other remains of interest were to be seen, 
for the pile of large stones at the next point seemed to 
be not artificial, after I had examined them closely. Our 
gaze was, therefore, directed with eagerness and care to 



410 



THE "heed of swine.' 



the hills above and the plain below, for much interest must 
always be felt in looking at this spot as the most likely 
place for that strange, indeed unique, miracle where the 
"Legion" entered into the herd of swine.* Other travel- 
lers, more or less hurried in their examination of this place, 
have given their impressions after seeing it from the shore. 
I shall venture to record what was noticed from the water 
during some hours of leisure, and from notes written at the 
time.f 

Between Wady Semakh and Wady Fik there are at 
least four distinct localities where every feature in the 
Scripture account of this incident may be found in com- 
bination.:]: Above there are rocks with caves in them, 
very suitable for tombs, § and farther down there is ample 
space for tombs built on sloping ground — a form of sepul- 
ture far more prevalent in Scripture times than we are apt 
to suppose. A verdant sward is here, with many bulbous 
roots which swine might feed upon. And on this I ob- 
served — what is an unusual sight — a very large herd of 
oxen, horses, camels, sheep, asses, and goats, all feeding to- 
gether. It was evident that the pasturage was various, 
and enough for all — a likely place for "a herd of swine 
feeding on the mountain." Khersa, near this, in ruins, was 
probably the Gergesa of old, and, as has been observed re- 
peatedly by authors, this might well be in the " country 
of the Gradarenes," though a considerable distance from the 
town of Gadara.l We are told that " the whole herd of 

* Matt. viii. ; Mark v. ; Luke viii. 

t Thomson states incorrectly that "Everywhere along the north-eastern 
and eastern shores, a smooth beach dechnes gently down to the Avater " ("The 
Land and the Book," vol. ii, p. 36), but his assigned locaHty for the miracle 
coincides with one to be mentioned presently. 

t The place where the herd was feeding is stated to be "a good way off 
from them,"{. e. from where the demoniac met our Saviour "immediately" 
after "he came out of the ship." 

§ Wilson appears to have found tombs here, and another traveller states 
that he saw a mad beggar running about, who lived in a cave. 

II The incident of the demoniacs is related as having taken place in the 
"country of the Gergesenes," Matt. viii. 28 [Sinai MS. (corrected) reads 
Gazarenes ; Vatican MS. Gadarenes], In Mark v. 1, it is "Gadarenes" 



THE "herd of swine." 



411 



swine ran violently down a steep place." It does not say 
that it was a " high " place, but " steep," Kptijivov^ and that 
they " ran " (not, they " fell ") down this " into the sea." 
There are several steeps near the sea here, but only one so 
close to the water as to make it sure that if a herd " ran 
violently " down, they would go " into the sea."* But the 
place which I regard as most likely for the site of this 
event is at the end of the short plain under some rocks, 
and near the green plateau^ where the swine could feed. 
Here, for a full half-mile, the beach is of a form different 
from any other round the lake, and from any I have no- 
ticed in any lake or sea before. It is flat until close to the 
edge. There a hedge of oleanders fringes the end of the 
plain, and immediately below these is a gravel beach, in- 
clined so steep that, when my boat was at the shore, I could 
not see over the top even by standing up ; while the water 
alongside is so deep that it covered my paddle (seven feet 
long) when dipped in vertically a few feet from the shore. 
Now, if the swine rushed along this short plain towards 
this hedge of underwood (and in the delta of Semakh their 
usual feeding-place would be often among thick brush- 
wood of that kind), they would instantly pass through the 
shrubs, and then down the steep gravel beyond the deep 
water, where they would surely be drowned. 

[Sinai MS. and Vatican MS. Gerasenes, but again corrected in the Sinai MS. 
to Gergesenes], In Luke viii. 26, it is "Gadarenes" [Sinai MS. Gergesenes ; 
Vatican MS. Gerasenes] ; so that there are four readings, which differ not 
-much in sound. Wey's map (in a.d. 1462) puts Cedar and Godara near 
this, and "Hondius his Map, "in 1624, places Gadara by the river. Dam- 
ville's map, 1794, has Gadera at Khersa. 

The name Wady Fik is derived from the ancient village of Aphek near it 
(Aphaka is the Phoenician Venus worship). The ruins one sees on the top 
of the camel-like ridge are those of Gamala, ("gumel" "camel"), perhaps 
the Gebal and Gammadims of Ezekiel (ch. xxvii). This was the last town 
taken by the Eomans in this direction, and Josephus teUs how hard a fight 
the Jews made there with the brave old legions. 

* This is shown on Map VII., at p. 372, by the shaded portion of a cliff 
touching the shore. It was very satisfactory to me, after making these notes, 
independently of other travellers' views, to find that Captain Wilson agrees 
in considering that the coast south of Semakh is the most suitable for the 
occurrence we are discussing. 



412 



THE "herd of swine." 



The picture here given is a faithful copy of a sketch I 
made next morning from Kerak. The sun was then just 
rising behind the hills of Bashan, and therefore each cliff 
in the mountain had a deep shade, as shown in the pic- 
ture. The shore under Wady Fik was five miles distant 
from where I sketched, and, as my eye was near the wa- 
ter-level, the low shore along the base of the hills was be- 
neath the horizon, and therefore invisible; but the ex- 
treme clearness of the early morning air made it easy to 
mark each feature of the picture so illumined. The letter 
S, near the edge of the picture, is above the south end of 
the Wady Semakh, and a little to its right below would be 
the ruins of Khersa. The letter P is above the spot where 
the large open plain was covered by a flock. Behind this 
are rocks and caves, and, possibly, tombs. Before it is the 
curious beach already described as a "steep place." The 
letter G is over the ruins of Gamala, marked as little spots 
on the hill. This picture and the outline given at p. 349, 
ante^ nearly complete the contour of the east side of the 
lake.* 

The Eob Eoy now runs close to shore between two trees 
in the water, and moors there, with her bows towards land 
— an attitude the most suitable when visitors may call 
without sending up their cards. " El asher hadir," " Din- 
ner ready !" and we attack the contents of our bag. 

The beach south of Wady Fik is generally steep, and 
there are some clumps of stones by the water, one of them 
looking at first like a ruin, but, on close inspection, no re- 
mains were visible to indicate ports, piers, or quays, along 
this part. So our course was homeward bound. 

Our camp broke up to return to the land of Genesareth, 
and by diligent search I discovered a plausible excuse for 
not leaving the entrancing lake this day, namel}^, that I had 

* Here we feel it a pleasing duty to mention that the faithful representa- 
tion of the original sketches to illustrate this volume has been effected by the 
artistic skill of Captain May, E.N., under the able and experienced direction 
of Mr. James Cooper, who has superintended the preparation of the illustra- 
tions in this volume, and in the three other records of the Rob Roy's rovings. 



SEMAKH VILLAGE. 



415 



Still to examine one little bit of the southern shore. Thej 
left me, therefore, to follow on the lake, and the Eob Eoy 
skimmed away by Kerak ; but, although it was clear in 
the water and calm above, yet not one thing could be seen 
under the surface worth a word of comment. 

The water here is only about twelve feet deep, for fifty 
yards out, and flat stones are scattered on it even so far 
from shore. Crossing the Jordan's mouth, we arrive at 
Semakh village.* This place seemed to be entirely un- 
tenanted ; it stands, close to the water, upon a cliff of stiff 
clay, almost indurated into rock, and its appearance is 
most singular. The houses do not look very decrepit or 
forlorn. Some of the fifty or sixty dwellings huddled to- 
gether are of three stories high, and are built of black cut 
stone, and the roofs are there, and yet nobody is inside.f 
Then the bareness of the place : no foliage about it, no vale, 
no mound, no feature of strength or beauty, but just a 
well-built Arab town, deserted without any seeming cause. 
A pure and spotless beach is below the cliffs. I landed 
here, for it was not possible to resist so inviting a shore ; 
and the air was quiet, and the sea, and yet it was sheer 
waste of time to stop now in these silent shady coves.:}: 

Keluctantly embarking, and then coasting along, I dili- 
gently spied below, but could detect nothing here on the 
clean level bottom of the lake. When the boats on the 
Sea of Galilee were counted once by hundreds, surely 
there must have been numerous wrecks and founderings; 
and, as the lazy Turks would never remove these, one 

* The southern village, not the wady we visited yesterday. 

t So I was informed. Dr. Thomson speaks of two hundred houses here, 
and that it was inhabited in 1858. He marks Hippos here in his map. 
Robinson states the houses at about one-tenth of that number. The name 
Semakh may be derived from the old name Samaia, mentioned by Josephus 
(" Jewish War," book i. ch, ii. sec. vi.). In the Talmud the name "Jordan " 
is not given to the river until it has issued from the lake after passing Beth 
Yerak and Sennabris, which may be Kerak and Semakh. Susitha (from 
a word meaning "horse ") may be Hippos (" Geog. Talm." pp. 31, 216, 291). 

t Nevertheless, about six months might well be spent on this lake, with 
plenty of variety, in place, or weather, or scene, or incident every day, even 
if no time were devoted merely to quiet reverie. 



416 



HIPPOS. 



might well expect to see some relics of them still, but there 
was nothing until we approached the little tell, now called 
Sumrah, which is believed to be the ancient Hippos."^ If 
the town was called by this Greek name because of what it 
means (a " horse "), there is a show of reason for the title, 
since near it, on the plain, is a splendid pasture for steeds, 
and not far off I noticed many of them. It is likely, too, 
their owners noticed me, and, being now on the eastern 
shore, some caution was advisable, for the tribes there 
would gladl}' capture a Feringhee, and they know his 
proper ransom price. I searched about here with all dili- 
gence, but could find only some cut stones in the lake un- 
der water near the tell, and south of it a large mass of ma- 
sonry parth^ submerged, which seems not only to have 
tumbled down but to be inverted. The finest view of the 
lake in panorama is from a point about half a mile west of 
Hippos. Here we can see snowy Hermon and the white 
peaks of Antilebanon, closing in the northern end, while 
Tiberias is visible to the left, and Genesareth beyond. No 
person who wishes to see the lake of Galilee well should 
omit to come here for the centre of his panorama. 

The wind rose suddenly after I left Hippos to cross the 
lake. The waves were sharp and high, and in several di- 
rections at once, when m}^ course led me into the middle, 
where the peculiar swell had been noticed before. In ten 
minutes the sea had risen from sullen calm to answer, and it 
was necessary to be careful, even in a canoe. Worse it got, 
and worse, and finally so yevy bad that I had to "heave to," 
the only time the Eob Eoy was forced to do this during the 
whole cruise. f In an hour or so the wind had calmed 
down entirely. The surface of the water became glassy, 

* Josephns ("Life." sec. Ixv.) mentions the countiy of Justus (evidently 
Tiberias; sec. Ixx.) as being thirty stadia from HiiDpos, sixty from Gadara, 
and one hundred and twenty from ScythopoHs. 

f ^^lien a boat is made to "lie to." her bows are turned to the wind and 
sea. and her progi'ess is moderated, so as to be almost nil. By this means 
the breaking of the waves upon her is harmless, and she rises and falls, and 
pirches and rolls, with ease, and, indeed, with delight; but much time is lost, 
and there is the humiliation felt of being thwarted all the time. 



HIGH SEA. 



417 



but was bent in graceful curves by a long swell. Pass- 
ing Tiberias about two miles off, I heard every word the 
23eople said as they stood on their house-tops in long rows, 
and shouted all kinds of messages to the canoe, but chief- 
1}^ ending in " Taly, taly, taly heny !" (Come here!) The 
Rob Roy insensibly floated once more to Bethsaida, for it 
was impossible not to pay one parting visit to these pleas- 
ant fishermen. The hot steam now rose from the lake 
itself, outside the thermal fountains, and the fishes' backs, 




LAST VIEW or GENESAEETH. 



418 



YALE OF DOVES. 



by thousands, roughened the water. After a long day's 
work, however pleasant, there must come an end, and I 
paddled for the last time along the strand of Genesareth, 
and hauled the Rob Roy into the oleanders near Magdala. 

Our camp was here, and next morning the regretful feel- 
ing assumed sway that now, on this 2d of February, there 
was no more excuse to linger on the charming lake, and 
yet with the consolation that to return and have long weeks 
to spend will be a happy hope. 

On terra firma now again, it is my turn to carry the Rob 
Roy, as she has so well and so long carried me. And for 
the reader, our turn comes to be very brief ; for he can find 
what is seen on the land well told by better scribes who 
ride and do not paddle. Any one who goes up the rocky 
gorge of the Yale of Doves, and in winter, will be surprised 
to hear that we carried the canoe through that rough pass 
in a heavy storm of wind. Eagles soared about us, circling 
in the gale. Long years ago, in those dark caves above 
the upright cliffs, a terrible band of robbers lived, and prey- 
ed, and multiplied, until at last bold Herod was sent to deal 
with them, and Josephus tells us how he- managed."^ 

* "Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains, and could 
not be come at from any side, since they had only some winding pathways, 
very narrow, by which they got up to them ; but the rock that lay on their 
front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular 
declivity ; insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long time what to do, 
by reason of a kind of impossibility there was of attacking the place. Yet 
did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost 
hazard ; for he let down the most hardy of his men in chests, and set them 
at the mouths of the dens. . Now these men slew the robbers and their fami- 
lies, and when they made resistance, they sent in fire upon them (and burnt 
them) ; and as Herod Avas desirous of saAdng some of them, he had procla- 
mation made that they should come and deliver themselves up to him ; but 
not one of them came willingly to him, and of those that were compelled to 
come, many preferred death to captivity. And here a certain old man, 
the father of seven children, whose children, together Avith their mother, 
desired him to giA'e them leave to go out, upon the assurance and right 
hand that was offered them, sIcav them after the following manner: He 
ordered every one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the cave's 
mouth, and slew that son of his perpetually Avho Avent out. Herod was near 
enough to see this sight, and his boAvels of compassion Avere moved at it, and 



CANA. 



421 



On the plain above this "Yale of Doves," we come to 
where Saladiu routed the Crusaders with terrific slaughter, 
and finished their long sway in the East. But just before 
we tread this vast swamp of Hattin, there is one long, last, 
lino'erincr look behind : a farewell ofaze at the loved lake, far 
below, now left, but not forever. With a melancholy pencil 
we sketched the scene on page 417, and though only the 
northern end of the lake is here visible, in a small compass 
much is seen. Eight and left are the rocks of the robbers' 
caves. In the foreground of the distant lake is the "land of 
Grenesareth." On its left edge is Ain et Tin ; then the cliff at 
Capernaum, and behind that Bethsaida, and farther on. Tell 
Hoom. The mouth of the Jordan is beyond, and the west- 
ern end of the Butaia plain. In the far-away background 
Bashan shows those flat-edged hills which thus close in our 
little picture.^ 

Kefr Canaf was our halting-place, and next day the Eob 
Roy stopped at Nazareth. Twenty years before I had 
spent ten days here, and then the old doctor-monk, " Fra 
Joachim," used to come to my bedside and prescribe for 
me with gravity, and produce homoeopathic herbs out of 
his ample sleeve, while he puffed his cigarette with smiles. 
We paid a visit to this ancient now. For forty years he 
has been away from Spain, his native land, so he seemed to 
care little about " Cosas d'Espagna." His laboratory is like 

he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and besought him to spare 
his children ; yet did not he relent at all upon Avhat he said, but over and 
above reproached Herod on the lowness of his descent, and slew his wife as 
well as his children ; and when he had thro-\^Ti their dead bodies down the 
precipice, he at last threw himself down after them " ("Jewish "War," book 1. 
ch. xvi. sec. iv.). The story is repeated with variations in "Antiq. of the 
Jews." 

* To obtain this bijou prospect, I went north of the usual road,, and tried 
several points of view, until at last there could be included the largest portion 
possible of the Sea of Galilee. One of the photographs of the Palestine Ex- 
ploration Fund represents a part of this scene, but it is taken from a point 
farther east and south, and, therefore, it has less of the lake itself. 

t Full and recent reliable information as to this village, which was the 
scene of our Lord's first miracle, will be found in an interesting paper by the 
Rev. J. Zeller, published in the Quarterly Statement No. III. of the Pal- 
estine Exploration Fund for October, 1869. 



422 



NAZARETH. 



a druggist's shop in a conjuror's cave, and the only draughts 
he ventured to order this time for my health seemed un- 
doubtedly vinous, and they were speedily drunk off — by 
him. 

Well, he is a worthy fellow; and if all the monks were 
as little of monks as he is, they would never have been ex- 
pelled, as they have been almost everywhere, while only 
England is calling them back to her bosom. The excellent 
missionary, the Kev. J. Zeller, showed me the Protestant 
schools of Nazareth, and the new English church now 




TUE NEW PKOTESTANT CHUROU AT NAZAEETH. 

building here, and of which we present a sketch. It is in 
a most picturesque position, but to pay for it funds are 
needed still, and who could refuse to place a stone in the 
walls of a church at Kazareth? Nazareth is vastly changed 
in these last twenty years. It is larger, cleaner, more popu- 
lous, better built, and better taught, for the active catechists 
are working here with vigor. Things are advancing in the 
East, though the advance is very slow. Mr. Zeller also 
showed me a very great curiosity, which had an important 
bearing upon an incident we shall soon have to relate. 



i 



OLD SIGHTS. 



425 



This was the skeleton of a crocodile, about ten feet long, 
which a person known to Mr. Zeller had killed, three months 
before, in the river Zerka, which flows into the Mediterrane- 
an not far from Cassarea. Old authors have called that the 
"Crocodile River," and near it are the ruins of the " City 
of Crocodiles." Arabs of the vicinity have long persisted 
in stating that the "timsah" is still found there; and re- 
cent authors have written that they had " seen men who 
had seen crocodiles in the Zerka." But here we had the 
actual specimen itself, so all doubt is now removed.* 

If it is sometimes pleasant to come a second time into a 
foreign town, when you have already seen all the " stock 
sights " there, and may therefore now omit them, it is es- 
pecially agreeable, in a second tour in Palestine, to escape 
long stories about the Popish paint with which so many 
grand and solemn holy places have been daubed. In 
Bethlehem, we had long ago seen tke glass case containing 
"the tongues of the infants slain by Herod;" and we had 
seen the scandalous impostures in other towns, for which 
every Romish bishop in England (though he smiles at it) 
is responsible, for his Church claims to be " one and infalli- 
ble." We had seen the Saint's blood in Ital}^, and the pa- 
gan crosses for the Indians in Romish America; and the 
priests, after mass on Sunday in Spain, buying tickets at 
the lottery, and going off with their whole congregation to 
the bull-fight. We had seen the " Madiai " imprisoned in 
Tuscany for teaching the Bible to their servant-girl ; and 
we had visited an English lady in Lucca, imprisoned for 
giving one tract to a woman. We had seen the " paternal 
government" that found these writings were "too hard" 
for the people; while the most stupid nonsense of false 
saints, with pictures, was publicly sold in their churches, 

* Mr. Zeller brought it to England, and it was exhibited in October, 1869, 
at the Free Museum and Library in Liverpool, and Mr. Zeller kindly prom- 
ised to present this unique specimen to the Museum of the Palestine Explo- 
ration Eund. If other travellers also would keep their faculties alive by col- 
lecting articles for the same purpose, they would be doing good service, and 
would feel too that the fruits of their travels ai*e more widely enjoyed in a 
public museum than in any private cabinet. 



■i26 SIGHTS UNSEEX. ^ 

as easy to be understood b}' the people (and exalting the 
priests). We had read the book of the Eomish Bishop of 
Birmingham, proclaiming the recent miracle of "Z« SaletteJ'' 
in France, where the Virgin appeared to two children, and 
talked to them patois about potatoes ; and which tale, he 
assured us, was approved hj the Pope, and therefore he in- 
vited us all to visit the place. AVe had visited the mount- 
ain near Grenoble, and had seen the donkej's' panniers 
bringing down bottles full of water from the hol}^ fountain, 
Avhile a wily priest at the bottom started a private pump 
of his own. We had seen the original of the protest 
against this imposture, signed by fifty priests, who com- 
plained that the Virgin came down upon " all the hills 
around." "We bad bought, on the spot, the official report 
of the trial by the highest court, convicting the priests of 
imposture, and the woman herself who had been dressed 
as " the Virgin :"' and we had seen the " Tablet*' newspa- 
per, in England, loudly advancing the trick, and then — si- 
lent"^ — and the Bishop's book withdrawn. But we have 
never yet seen the retractation by anj' of these people — 
Pope, bishop, priests, or editors — of the proved falsehoods 
the}* had so freeh' advocated. 

Having seen these things, and many others like them, 
we placed no faith in what could be shown us now bj' the 
monks at Nazareth : and therefore the Eob E03' went past 
them all, to commune rather with the brooks, and trees, 
and everlasting hills, which, haj^pily, even the Si/IIabus can 
not suppress. 

It is to be hoped that the plans of the priests will be 
speedily ripe in England, and that they may open fire 
along the whole line before our vigor is sapped and our 
manliness utterly gone. The hard fight- — physical fight — 
that is comins* must come soon, or it will find us without 
heart or sinews. Even if it comes at once, it will find us, 
poor " swaddlers," half ashamed to be Protestants,'' trem- 
bling before the sarcasm scribbled in some anonymous gar- 

* Yet now again. September 25, 1869, wannly espousing another ''appa- 
rition " in the Pyrenees. 



PLAIN WORDS. 



427 



ret, as if it were law and gospel because it is printed. Do 
we reall}' know what Poperj has been of old, what it is 
even now, what it tells us positively it must and will be here 
and soon and always — "dominant?" Could you or I be 
true Papists and yet loyal to England? To the future 
England that is to serve the Pope we might be loyal, but 
loyal to the England that as yet is free — never. These 
truths are too true to be told. It is a vast indiscretion to 
tell them here. But I have seen too much of these things 
to be ignorant, and I fear too little and too much to be si- 
lent. For mone}', free trade, railways, any thing you please 
that is earthl}^, you may hold meetings, write books, fight 
battles, make any din you like, and be " earnest," and speak 
plain. But for the free Bible — the right to tell what Pope- 
ry was, is, and wants to be — you must hush to a whisper 
any voice you have, and still be reckoned even then a 
monomaniac. We must be "charitable" — yes, and for 
whom our charity ? Not for our women, our children, our 
herds of ignorant and weak who are beguiled — but for the 
army of foreign priests who stream over the land, and 
raise an alien name above our Queen's. Is it not just pos- 
sible that our wondrous delicacy in this matter is not from 
love, but fear? Eather, perhaps, it is because that sort of 
tone pays best in general popularity — nobody is so sure of 
approval as the man who is "fiercely moderate." If 3'ou 
want to screen those people here whom the Eomish Bishop 
of Cracow (who ought to know them best) calls "furies, 
not women," to keep English girls in their prisons under 
the " moral " restraint of character lost b}^ escape ; if you 
want to justify disloyalty, to hand over to a narrow celibate 
clique of alien hopes and sympathies the teaching of our 
nation, to flout the nobles of England cringing to the 
"Prince" last made b}^ an old bachelor abroad, to stifle 
free speech, to buy short peace by bribes, ever larger, never 
enough, to fasten on us again the fangs that sucked Eng- 
land's best blood once, and to shame our nation in presence 
of the others who have writhed out from under intolerable 
coils ; if you will fear a huge system for its power, and sue- 



428 



PLAIN WORDS. 



cor it because it is weak — 'Wonder at its wealth, 3^et pay it 
because it is poor — bow down to it as divine, yet laugh at 
it as only a ghost ; if you will enthrone error, and put fet- 
ters upon truth — bind heavier "them that are fast bound 
in misery and iron," and set the oppressor free — put priests 
for our lawgivers and a gigantic imposture for our faith, 
drown truth in fables and shut our open Bible: if you 
want to do these things with impunity, naj^, to be called 
"liberal " while you do them — only say it is in the name 
of " religion " and at the bidding of the "priests," and 
mind you say " the priests of Eome," for to do these things 
at the bidding of any others would convict you of " bigot- 
ry," or treason, or of craven fear. 



SOUKCE OF KISHOX. 



429 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

Source of Kishon. — Megicldo. — Fords of Kishon. — Kishon's Banks. — Sis- 
era's Steeds. — Launch in a Storm. — Up the Melchi. — Meeting a Croco- 
dile. — What to do. — Feeling a Crocodile. — Flight. — Evidence. — Start on 
the Belus. — River Aujeh. — Farewell to the Jordan. — Across the Bay of 
Acre. — "Ariadne.'' — Praise. 

Next night, sleeping at Malhoolah, seemed to me the 
coldest of any in the journey. No doubt this was caused 
by our "going up " from the deep chasm of Gralilee, where 
the temperature in winter is delicious, to the higher ground 
on the hills that encircle Nazareth. 

Now we are in sight of Mount Carmel, and the Rob Roy 
is carried over the plain of Esdraelon. Here we come to a 
river again, and our pen may be set free, for our paddle is 
to be unloosed. 

The source of the Kishon seems to be at Jeneen, the old 
En-gannim ("fountain of gardens"), given to Issachar by 
Joshua (xxi. 29). I regret not having examined this fount- 
ain during a former visit to Jeneen. But east of this there 
are earlier streams of Kishon, at least in winter, and Dr. 
Thomson proves that the watershed of the Jordan and the 
Kishon is in a line from Ksalis to Endor, and that the Ki- 
shon and the Jalud overlap one another for several miles.* 
The Kishon is called Mokatta (ford) by the Arabs, and its 
valley. El Kasah^ from the spring, while their name for the 
plain of Esdraelon is Merj ihn Amer. We are here on the 
regular field of battle for the centre of Palestine, while the 
Bukaa we had traversed towards Damascus was the battle 

* "The Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. 140. Schwartz says (p. 166) 
that the Arabs call the village south-east of Tabor, near which the sources 
of Kishon are, Sheich Abrik (chief Barak), in allusion to Barak (Judges iv. 
6). In 1 Chronicles \\. 37, among the Levitical cities, the village is called 
Kedesh, and this may be the Kedes marked in Wey's old map. 



-130 



MEGIDDO. 



plain for the north. A hundred other points of interest 
are round us on Esdraelon, but we must keep to a fe^Y that 
are fairly subjects for our log. 

There is euphony in that name for the streams of Ki- 
shon, "the waters of Megiddo.'' This town^ was for years 
left under the power of the Canaanites. Barak and Siscra, 
''the kings, came and fought" (Judges v. 19), and Deborah 
sang of the victory. The place was well chosen as a battle- 
field to contest both the road and the river. The Israel- 
ites assembled at Tabor could reach it in six hours if the 
upper streams of Kishon were dry, but it is not easy to see 
how Sisera could bring hither his nine hundred chariots " 
from Harosheth, if that was near Hazor, '"above" the wa- 
ters of Merom.f 

As Barak began the battle, a storm of rain, hail, and wind 
swept over the plain,:}: " the stars in their courses fought 
against Sisera,"" and '" the river of Kishon swept them away 
— that ancient river, the river Kishon." 

The treacherous nature of the Kishon exceeds that of 

* If Megiddo was the Eoman station '"Legio" (now "Lejun'' of the 
Arab), it is south-east of Carmel on the road to Jenin, and in full view of 
Jezreel, looking west. Farther south, on the same highway, was Taanach, 
also a Caiiaanitish town (Judges i. 27), and now called Tannuk. Yande- 
velde, in his " Syria and Palestine"' (IS.U. vol. i. p. 36i), gives an hiterest- 
ing explanation of how it was that Pliaroah-nechoh was met here and fought 
by Josiah (2 Kings xxxiii.). 

Eabbi Schwartz (p. 165) thus explains the apparent difficulty in imder- 
standing 1 Kings xxxi. 19 : '"On the spot where the dogs have hcked up 
the blood of Xaboth shall the dogs lick up thy blood also in conjunction with 
1 Kings xxii. 38 : "And they washed out the chariot in the pool of Samaria, 
and the dogs hcked up his blood." Xaboth was stoned to death in Jezreel, 
and still it is said, as if in fulfillment of the prophecy, that Ahab's blood was 
licked up in Samaria. He says that the Hebrew word translated " on the 
spot" should be rendered "in place of" in punishment for; so the same 
M-ord in Hosea ii. 1, "And it shall come to pass that instead of people's say- 
ing of them. 

The "Armageddon" in Eev. xvi. 16. may mean either the "fortified 
city" or the "mountain" of ^Megiddo (Stanley, " S. and P."' p. 338). 

+ Thomson ("The Land and the Book,"' vol. ii. p. 113) places Harosheth 
at the large double mound opposite Camiel, now called Harothieh, and he 
lucidly explains the incidents of this battle. 

X Josephus, " Antiq. of the Jews," book v. ch. v. sec. iv. 



kishon's banks. 



431 



any river I have seen. Not only are there few fords in 
the lower part, but they are all difficult of access, even in 
fine weather, and the depth of water in them varies ex- 
tremely even without any assignable cause. 

As we approached the river, after a long spell of fair 
weather, Hany was exceedingly anxious to ford it at once, 
for a few hours' rain might render a passage impossible. 
On one of the thirty visits he had made to this river, he 
was kept thus a whole week without being able to pass. 

Therefore we pressed on with wearied mules to the up- 
per ford, said then to be the best ; but on approaching it I 
observed about twenty mounted Arabs on the other bank, 
who tried in vain to cross there, and so we retired and 
strusfo-led on to the next ford. 

CO 

To save time I went half a mile in advance, through the 
reeds; and, descending the steep bank, my horse entered 
the river, which is there about fifty feet broad ; but we had 
not advanced two yards into the channel before the water 
came up to my knees sitting in the saddle, and all endeav- 
ors to cross there were futile. Our horses, indeed, could 
have swum, but not the pack-mules. 

Again we retreated, and went still down the stream to 
the last ford (except that at the mouth), and which had the 
worst reputation of all. To our great astonishment, there 
was actually not three inches of water at this spot, and the 
Rob Roy could scarcely float across. 

This remarkable uncertainty of the fords is caused by 
the soft sand and mud at the bottom of the river being- 
moved bodily from one place to another, so that no man 
can tell where it may be hollowed out one day or heaped 
up in a bank the next. 

It is readily understood, then, how Sisera's army might 
have easily crossed the Kishon before a storm, and yet be 
"swept away " in the very same place after rain had flood- 
ed the- river. This also explains how Elijah told Ahab to 
hasten lest the rain should stop him. 

Another peculiarity of the plain is that, on certain 
tracts of its surface, there is strong adhesive mud, and this 



•i32 SISERAS STEEDS. 

alone enables the banks of the Kishon to maintain their 
remarkable upright form, even when they are twenty feet 
high. 

Xow when horses and mules pass over such places, they 
are often unable to pull out their feet. The struggles of 
the mules when they felt this were violent, and the loads 
of those that stuck fast had to be removed. One of our 
donkeys, falling into this clay, which is far stiflfer than the 
loam, succumbed without an effort, lying upon his side as 
if hopeless, deep sunk in the mire, and patiently waiting 
half an hour until the other animals had been recovered, 
and he could be released. 

I noticed also that the form of the mule's hoof, being 
sharp and pointed, allows it to sink much deeper than the 
flat hoof of a horse ; but then the mule can, for the same 
reason, draw his foot out more easily. If a horse's foot is 
buried in the mud long enough to allow the clav to close 
over it from above, he finds it extremely difficult to draw 
his leg out again, and he instantly changes his gait to a se- 
ries of plunges, with rapid, short, and jerky steps, snorting 
and groaning the while with terror, and panting and steam- 
ing in the wildest excitement. 

Therefore it was that in this battle of !Megiddo the war- 
steeds of Sisera were discomfited." flying before Israel, 
"SO that Sisera lighted down ofi" his chariot." and Debo- 
rah could sing in her iiymn of triumph, Then were the 
horse-hoofs broken by the means of the prancings, the 
prancings of their mighty ones." 

TTe were now at the foot of Mount Carmel, which is 
about fifteen miles in length, broad and lofty at the inland 
end. and narrowing to a lower point that juts out seaward. 
Having formerly spent a week in the convent here, I was 
well acquainted with the northern end of Carmel, but now 
I scaled the heights remote from the sea, to examine and 
to admire the place where Elijah met the priests of Baal. 
Stanley well describes tins grand theatre, and the sacred 
tragedv that was enacted there of old. The well whence the 
water was drawn three times to flood the sacrifice I found 



LAUNCH IN A STORM. 



433 



quite full to thirteen feet,* and the channel of Kishon bends 
round close to Carmel just below this spot ; and deep in its 
sands there is buried, no doubt, the golden dust of idols cal- 
cined and stamped to pieces by him who was zealous for 
Jehovah. Then the old river trends away into the marsh 
again, silently meandering slowly to the sea. 

Torrents of rain descended on our camp at night, and 
the flat morass glistened with rain-drops which warned 
both man and beast not to traverse it now, and justified 
our prudent haste in passing it while dry. 

At the beginning of our tour I would not have dared to 
carry the Eob Koy over this terrible bog, but now, fully 
trusting the horse, we set off to float her again on the 
Kishon. 

The rain beat cold in our faces, and the winter blast 
was rushing down the crags. It was an anxious time cross- 
ing this dreary swamp in such a storm ; and as my horse 
plunged knee-deep, and struggled, he groaned aloud with 
rage. 

"Suppose he sticks here, what shall I do?" was the 
question, and it seemed to be best then to throw off my 
broad cloak on the marsh and to jump into it, and lie 
at full length to prevent sinking ; but the next part of the 
process I never could pre-arrange, and it was just one of 
those dangers one can not prepare for, and must only be 
blind to until they occur. After much difficulty the ca- 
noe was launched down the deep bank, and once all snug 
in the Eob Roy, I was sheltered of course from the pitiless 
rain. Then they left me with a Moslem's blessing, and I 
was soon out of sight of mankind. 

High vertical banks soon shut in the Kishon, which 

* The depth of water in this well, when noted at all by travellers, is often 
different, but it is never mentioned as positively dry, Thomson's sugges- 
tion that the water was obtained fi-om a fountain near the channel seems to 
me untenable. He cites an interesting passage from Tacitus, describing the 
worship on Mount Carmel (" The Land and the Book," vol. ii. p. 223). Just 
below the sacrifice-place, Moharrakah, which means " burning," is Tell el 
Kasees (hill of the priests). Finn, however, thinks this name alludes to 
some hermit of later times ("Byeways of Palestine," p, 233). 

E E 



434 



UP THE MELCHI. 



flows moodily dark and deep in a bending channel about 
sixty feet wide. A curious ledge of hard clay projects 
at each verge about three inches under the surface, and 
then is steep again to six feet below, within a yard or two 
from the shore. I tried in vain to find even one single 
stone with which to sound the middle, and I hesitated to 
use my pistol for this, not knowing what might be met to 
require its aid as a firearm. 

Eaok grass waved on each hand at the top, and wild 
ducks flew down the wind, and a gray heron and a white 
one, but neither man nor beast was to be seen. It was evi- 
dent that the Kishon once begun, we could hope for no 
landing-place even for a minute's rest, but must go right 
on to the sea. 

Soon there flowed in a tributary stream from the north, 
and to this I turned off in hopes of adventure or discovery. 

This is the stream Nahr el Melchi,^ or el Malek, and 
its mouth is twenty feet wide, with a considerable current, 
in about six feet in depth. The banks are from twelve to 
twenty feet high, and very steep, with oleanders on the 
sides and canes. The course is winding, and the channel 
soon narrows, while it bends abruptly amid broken islets. 
Still I pushed upward, being anxious to reach the tell 
marked in the map, where there might be ruins to reward 
a search. At length it became impossible to use the pad- 
dle, the river was so narrow, and when it was choked by 
reeds the Eob Eoy had to return, stern foremost, for there 
was not room to turn her round. 

Once more in the Kishon, we had open water, and the 
weather suddenly cleared up with bright sunshine at noon. 
It was time now to breakfast, so my bag was drawn out, 
and the viands spread on deck, while the canoe floated 
gently about twenty feet from the southern bank. Here 
an event happened which was totally unexpected, and ex- 

* Schwartz (pp. 191, 192) suggests that this stream, flowing south of Shafa- 
mer, is named after the ancient Alammelech, which stood on its banks. The 
plain here may be the "Wady el Meleh," for a salt marsh so near the sea 
is natural enough. 



MEETING A CKOCODILE. 



435 



ceedinglj interesting. My paddle was at the time across 
the deck, and I was lolling in the " well " as if on a couch, 
for it was found quite impossible to land on any part of 
Kishon's banks. I was dipping a little tin drinking-can, 
with my hand dabbling in the water, when a strange sound 
was heard quite near — a measured breathing, gurgling, 
hissing sound. After this had been repeated, I turned 
quietly round to look. Within a foot of my paddle, and 
close to my boat, and just by my hand, I saw the nose and 
mouth of — a crocodile ! For a second or two my eyes were 
fixed on this extraordinary apparition as if spell-bound by 
a serpent's gaze. The nose was dark gray in color, smooth 
and rounded, and it stuck out above water. The mouth 
was open, and the water gurgled out and in. Not the 
slightest doubt had I that this was the face of a crocodile, 
though from its position behind me in the muddy water, 
and because my head was low, I did not see its eyes. A 
crocodile's head had long ago been familiar to me, for I had 
seen, quite near, at least fifty of them on the Upper Nile, 
and for twenty years the face of one of those I shot has 
been resting exactly opposite to the seat where this is writ- 
ten. The manner of swimming also, with the nose out of 
water and the mouth opened towards the flowing stream, was 
precisely what is so often noticed on the Nile, and the very 
first crocodile I had met in Egypt was ex:actly in the same 
position,"^ having come to the surface, like this one here, 
to bask in the sun. Hastily rising from my lounge, I 
grasped the paddle, but was doubtful what to do with it. 

* This was just above Minyeh, which was then the limit north for croco- 
diles. More lately they have been driven far away by the steamboats, so that 
when the commodore of the Canoe Club ascended the Nile this year, but one 
crocodile fell to the gun of his royal highness. 

But they used to come lower ; so when I saw the crocodile near Minyeh, 
I descended the bank, and held on by one hand to a clump of palm-leaves, 
while with the other I placed my pistol within a yard of the crocodile's head. 
Straining then at the trigger to fire it, I found the pistol was only at half- 
cock, and when I brought it back to the other hand to cock it, the palm- 
leaves gave way, and I tumbled into the river, but managed to get to land 
without having lost the pistol, the same weapon used in this canoe cruise. 



436 WHAT TO DO. 

If I struck the animal, he might lash his tail and injure the 
boat. If I dipped the paddle gently, it would bring my 
hand quite close to his mouth, and an unsophisticated 
crocodile would very probably snap at such a tempting 
morsel, though those more knowing ones on the Nile are 
shy, because they learn from experience that men mean 
guns, and guns mean bullets, and though bullets do not 




THE CEOOODILE ON THE KISHON. 



always mean death, or even wounds to the crocodile, yet 
they sometimes scratch his sleepy scales.^ Cautiously, 

* One night in the Nile a crocodile fell from the bank into the middle of 
my " dahabeeh." He must have been asleep, and the end of the lateen yard 
may have struck him. Aroused in my cabin, I found all the crew had 
jumped over, and were clinging to the gunwale, while they screeched most 
vigorously. At Siout, in 1849, I saw what was said to be the largest croco- 
dile ever killed in the neighborhood. His death was not accomplished until 
he killed two men by swings of his tail. His body was hung up over the 
gate of the tcvvn, and I estimated its length as twenty-six feet, but others 
called it thirty feet. One of the crocodiles I killed had a^ quarter of a pint 
of pebbles in his stomach, and the bullet of an Arab gun, much corroded. 



FEELING A CROCODILE. 



437 



then, I dipped the blue paddle-blade, and the nose and 
mouth went down, and the Eob Roy dashed to the middle 
of the river, for there it would be safer, as the crocodile 
prefers to attack near the shore. 

Then the thought came powerfully, " How important a 
discovery is this, and yet how indistinct are its details ! 
How wrong it was not to get out my pistol — how culpable 
now if I do not sift the matter further!" So the canoe 
came close to the bank to examine the muddy shores. 
There we found numerous foot-prints, which seemed to 
be those of crocodiles. The shores were in patches, and in 
the most favorable condition for inspection, because for a 
long time there had been no rain until last night, and the 
river had not yet been swollen much. Many of the foot- 
marks were in little bights, entirely cut off from the land 
above by banks quite vertical, so that no ox or other cat- 
tle would go there, especially as at the flat mud-banks far- 
ther down there are regular places for cattle to drink at. 
The foot-print of the crocodile is very like the impression 
made by the human hand if you strike that into mud, with 
the wrist lowered and the fingers bent. These were what 
I saw, but to make more sure, I very slowly ran the canoe 
upon one of the banks, where her bow touched the shore 
and her stern swung slowly round in the stream. Just as 
I began to lean over to take a sketch of the foot-prints, I 
felt something hard under the boat's bottom, which began 
behind me (not floating with the stream), and it went bump, 
bump, all along, exactly under my seat. 

For three years I had been well accustomed to sit on 
the floor of the canoe (never using a cushion or even a mat), 
and at once to apprehend the various knocks, and vibra- 
tions, and grazings received, which are quite distinguisha- 
ble as the boat passes over rocks, boulders, shingle, gravel, 

Fourteen hours after his death, and when his stomach was removed, and the 
skin was being stripped from his back, he moved his tail so vigorously that we 
had to place the "pipe-boy " sitting on it, to keep the body still. Warburton, 
on the Nile, found a lad crying beside a dead crocodile, which had eaten his 
grandmother. He sold the crocodile for 7s. 6d, with the old lady inside. 



438 



FLIGHT. 



sand, mud, or weeds. This feeling of the object outside, 
through the thin oak plank (not an inch from jour body), 
is ahnost as easy as by the hand itself, and therefore I knew 
in a moment that some hard, smooth, heavy substance was 
knocking below against my boat, and moving forward. 
The most likely of all things was that this was a crocodile, 
who had seen the large object above him — a total novelty 
here — and being an animal of curious mind, he had risen 
underneath it to examine what was shading the light from 
his eyes. In much less time than has been necessary to 
put all this on paper the Eob Eoy fled from the spot at the 
top of her speed, and went on until we came in sight of the 
Mediterranean Sea. 

The Kishon widens for the last two miles, and there are 
large bushes on its banks, but mostly on the north shore. 
I brought a branch from one of these as a trophy from a 
point just a little below the Kahr el Melcha. Bustards 
and hawks were numerous, and I saw one white ibis and 
one dead fish. The channel"^ turns suddenly to the north 
for a quarter of a mile, when its waters reach the sea-sand, 
and are there a little brackish. Numerous palm-trees are 
alongside, and a long lagoon of marsh. 

Some travellers had come to ford the Kishon at its 
mouth, and I went up at once and told them I had seen a 
crocodile, had seen the foot-prints of others, and had felt 
below my boat what seemed to be one more. One of the 
party thus met was a foreign consul. He said that none 
of the people there had ever seen a crocodile in that river. 
But have they gone up high enough to see one? It will 
be perfectly easy to take a boat up the Kishon so as to 
test the discover}^, and I only regret that this was not done 
at the time, and that there is left to some other traveller 
the .satisfaction of bringing home one of the crocodiles I 
met in the Kishon on February 6, 1869. 

It may well be supposed that when this discovery was 

* It is plain that the mouth of Kishon has been gradually pushed on north- 
ward, by the slight but constant current along the coast, which silts up the 
southern bank of the river. The same is noticed at the mouth of the Belus. 



EVIDENCE. 



439 



published in a letter to the " Times," a great deal of inter- 
c^st Was excited among naturalists in various countries. 
From Germany I received letters of urgent inquiry, and 
many from England and America. The Austrian Consul 
at Jerusalem took much trouble to look up the old writers 
upon the subject, and the learned Dr. Sandreczki sent me 
excerpts from different authors. Some of the investigations 
gave statements as to the crocodile having lived in the 
Zerka ; but it seems quite unnecessary to refer to old writers 
upon this point, because, as we have narrated, there are 
now in England the bones of a crocodile killed in that 
river. But it being indisputable that the crocodile exists 
in the Zerka, we are more readily prepared to find it in the 
river Kishon, which is only about twenty miles north of 
the Zerka;* and indeed the higher tributaries of these two 
rivers are not five miles apart. 

* Dr. Thomson sajs ("The Land and the Book, vol. ii. p. 244) : "I sus- 
pect that long ages ago, some Egyptians accustomed to worship this ugly 
creature settled here (Caesarea), and brought their gods with them. Once 
here, they would not easily be exterminated, for no better place could be 
desired by them than this vast jungle and impracticable swamp. . . . The 
historians of the Crusades speak of this marsh, which they call a lake, and 
also say that there were crocodiles in it in their day. If the locality would 
admit, I should identify this Zerka with the Shihor Libnatli of Joshua xix. 
26, for ' Shihor' is one of the names of the Nile, the very home of the croco- 
dile ; but the river in question was given to Asher, and is probably the 
Naaman (the Belus of ancient geographers), and the marshes at its source 
are as suitable for this ugly beast as those of Zoar." It is presumed that 
this is meant for Zoan, although crocodiles are not found in the Delta of 
Egypt now. These marshes of the Belus may be what are referred to in the 
Talmud under the name of Hultha (Neubauer, " Geog. Talm." p. 24). They 
are only a few miles north of the marshes of the Kishon, which are in every 
way as suitable for the crocodile to inhabit ; and when we find that Kishon 
is between two rivers, one of them now containing crocodiles, and the other 
having a name which may. indicate its relation or similarity to the Nile, and 
that the ports at the mouth of all three rivers were visited constantly by ships 
from Egypt, it appears highly probable that the animal may have been 
either indigenous in all three streams, or brought by Egyptians for their wor- 
ship, or by Eomans for their games. In "Delitzsch on Job" (Clarke's, ii. 
p. 366), it is said the crocodile is found near Tantura in the river Damur 
(N. of Sidon), but, query, meaning the Zerka ? 

As to the subject generally, see "Jerusalem und das Heihge Land," by 
Dr. Sepp (SchafFhausen, 1863), vol. ii. p. 476. 



440 



STAET ON THE BELUS. 



The Austrian Consul at Jerusalem made inquiries of the 
monks at Carmel, and the Eev. J. Zeller inquired of the 
hunters at Caipha, but none of them knew of a crocodile in 
the Kishon. The only distinct assertion I can find in mod- 
ern books of the fact that the crocodile lived in the riv- 
er Kishon is the following, by Eabbi Schwartz (p. 301) : 
" The crocodile, al buda,"^ is met with on the shore of the 
Mediterranean, near Cheifa and Csesarea, but it is not 
above two feet in length. "f This, of course, refers to the 
Kishon as well as the Zerka, for Haifa is close to Kishon's 
mouth. 

After a day or two we carried the canoe along the white 
sand of the bay of Acre to the marsh where the Belus rises. 
This Shihor Libnath {i e. " white " or "glass " Shihor, or 
the " Nile of glass") is the present Numan of the Arabs, or 
the Kamle Abiatz, where, it is said, the manufacture of 
glass was first discovered accidentally by men who lighted 
a fire and found glass in the embers. The expression in 
Deuteronomy (xxxiii. 19), " The treasure hid in the sand," 
is probably in reference to this, and Josephus mentions the 
stream.:]: 

In a strong breeze I launched here and traversed the 
marshes until it was plain there was nothing to see except 
water and long reeds, for I did not then know that croco- 
diles might possibly be here also. There is a strange wild 

* Dr. Sandreczki, at Jerusalem, said this name is unknoAvn to him. 

t The crocodile killed in the Zerka was five times as large. 

X "Jewish War," book ii. ch, x. sec. ii. "The very small river Belus 
runs by it [Acre] at the distance of two furlongs ; near which there is Mem- 
non's monument, and hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, 
which deserves admiration ; for the place is round and hollow, and affords 
such sand as glass is made of, which place, when it hath been emptied by the 
many ships there loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring into it, 
as it were on purpose, the sand which lay remote, and was no more than 
bare common sand, while this mine presently turns it into glassy sand. And 
what is to me still more wonderful, that glassy sand which is supei-fluous, 
and is once removed out of the place, becomes bare common sand again. 
And this is the nature of the place we are speaking of. " 

The sand has been employed for making glass in later times by the Vene- 
tians (Kenrick's "Phenicia"); and after riding upon it for several hours, I 
can testify to its whiteness, purity, and beauty. 



RIVER AUJEH. 



443 



savageness about these marshes of the Belus, while palms 
grow on the edge, and a few gardens are inclosed. Two 
beautiful gazelles gave me a long chase on horseback, for 
it was easy to trace them on the sand. 

As no one but Hany was present when we launched on 
this river, it may well be supposed how astonished the na- 
tives were to see the Eob Eoy come out at the mouth, and 
with an air about her all the time that this was the com- 
mon thing to do. We had found nothing there, but then 
the wind was so stirring that crocodiles, at least, would not 
be readily seen in the fens and marshes, though these are 
just the very places for the " timsah " to rest in; and I 
commend the Belus to the more diligent search of some 
future traveller. 

Here it may be right to mention — for it could not other- 
wise come into our log .(being only a landlubber's business, 
and managed without the canoe) — that I made a diligent 
search along the shores and in the stream of the river Au- 
jeh, which runs into the sea a little north of Jaffa, seeking 
for evidence of the crocodile there. As this river is be- 
tween the Zerka and the ISTile, and is the longest constant 
river in Palestine next to Jordan, perhaps it might also 
have been made happy by the importation of the scaly 
monster ; but though much that was interesting was found 
in the district around, there was no trace of the crocodile 
noticed on the Aujeh.* Yet the banks were suitable for 
its habitat, and one can not rashly pronounce a negative 
decision in such a case. When the question had been still 
further pressed upon attention by the kind inquiries of 
learned men at Jerusalem, it seemed to me not impossible 
that even in old Jordan, too, there might be a crocodile. 

Eeports reached me that the animal had actually been 
seen, long ago, in Jordan, but without much to substan- 
tiate their accuracy. Dr. Barclay, the eminent scholar and 
learned divine, whose pious work as a missionary in Jeru- 
salem is joined with keen interest in all matters of science 

* All the rivers along the coast ought to be searched with this purpose in 
view. 



444 



FAREWELL TO JORDAN. 



and history, informed me that a few years ago one of his 
congregation came back from the Jordan mourning the 
sudden death of a fellow-traveller, who, he said, was car- 
ried away before his eyes by some animal in the water. 
Nor was it easy to banish from one's mind the impression 
created by the verse in Job xl. 23, which saj^s of " behe- 
moth," " he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his 
mouth," although the explanation of that verse, already 
given by Stanle}^, seems to turn its bearing entirely from 
" the " specific Jordan, and another animal is meant by 
hehemoth^ the "river ox," buffalo, or hippopotamus. 

However, it could do no harm to search even Jordan for 
the crocodile, and therefore, on a fourth visit to the Dead 
Sea, I made a close inspection of the last two miles of the 
river, with only this one object in view. Captain Warren, 
E.E., also went over the same ground in the opposite di- 
rection, and perhaps with less hopeful eye, but neither of 
us, at the day's end, had discerned the least trace of the 
crocodile here."^ 

Yet a day is not lost that is spent by the banks of the 
Jordan, and we can not have one too many visits to such 
a stream. How lonely it looked ! To think of the mil- 
lions of people, and thousands of years, that have had this 
river in their history, and yet not a single house, or tent, 
or booth, or. even hermit's cell, is here to mark where the 
Son of Man was proclaimed to be the Son of Grod. 

So now. Farewell to Jordan, in ardent hope of coming 
here again. 

Best known of waters in the whole world, you have had 

* Two things should be noticed as to this inspection ; first, that the river 
was then high, and any foot-prints on the bank would be most likely washed 
away ; and, second, that the Arabs Avhom we met upon the banks of the 
Jordan seemed in no way surprised that we Avere "looking out for a timsah.'' 
A search may yet be successful even here, if it is made at a time when the 
w^ater is low, and along the part of the Jordan from the last ford to the Dead 
Sea — a portion of the river, very difficult to approach closely, quite devoid 
of any other interest, and, therefore, scarcely ever visited by travellers, while 
it has at the same time every feature in banks, and weeds, and sandy bays, 
which would fit it for the habitation of the great reptile of the Nile. 



ACROSS THE BAY OF ACRE. 



447 



no ports for commerce, no cities on your banks, no green 
meads watered, no traffic on your waves. But the foot of 
the patriarch has rested there, and the prophet and the 
pnnce have dwelt beside you, and battles have sounded 
loud, and hosts have crossed your bed dried up by the fin- 
ger of God. If for ten thousand years your waters had 
rolled on unused and unseen, there would be reason enough 
for all their flowing when they at last became the font of 
our Saviour's baptism, and shone back the light from a 
Trinity revealed to man. 

Smoothly gliding out of the river Belus, the Rob Roy 
once more floated upon the salt waves of the Mediterranean. 
Bright sunshine gleamed on them, and a lively breeze 
curled over each billow-top as it plashed upon the shore. 
Through the waves we crossed this end of the bay of Acre, 
and soon reached the outlying ruins in the water, which 
guarded once this celebrated port of Ptolemais. So strong 
was the wind that nobody appeared on the walls or at the 
sally-port seaward, until the canoe had come quite close — 
certainly the smallest vessel that ever paid a visit to St. 
Jean d'Acre. But the first man who descried her soon 
brought the rest by his shouting, and the battlements were 
speedily crowded, and the shore was lined by a mass of 
sight-seers. Among the busy group, when I landed, one 
said to me in good English, " Come and have coffee with 
me." It was just the very thing I wanted — a cup of hot 
coffee — so I went, nothing loath, and on the way he said, 
" I wish to show you my young wife." This seemed odd 
enough, but I was ready for any thing that might turn up. 
The lady was a clever Lancashire lass, who had been six 
years in this funny little town of Acre, and now she prat- 
tled Arabic like a Turk, and sat cross-legged on a divan, 
while her nargilleh gurgled its blue cloud. I staid two 
days, delighted with this kind Jewish family. Here was 
a little negro boy, a slave, who had run away from his 
master, and got safely to the house of the English Con- 
sul. And so at once a name was given him, Farraj (free), 
and with his name a pair of trowsers, and then the broad 



448 



"ARIADNE." 



grin of happiness came on his sable cheeks, all gashed bj 
the slave-stealer's knife. Then the canoe went once more 
to Beyrout, and plied her azure sail in the harbor as be- 
fore, and was welcomed by many friends. From this again 
to Jaffa ; and here a long gap occurs in our log, which can 
not be filled up in these pages, because it was all on dry 




A CHEEK FROM THE "AEIADNE." 



land, or indeed much of it was under the earth, in the 
shafts at Jerusalem. This was a delightful stay of some 
weeks at the Holy City. To summarize the proceedings 
of that happy visit would be merely to tell what can be 
read elsewhere. To give in detail all the climbs up above, 
and dives down below, all the rides, and walks, and drives,* 

* Floyd, an American, drove the first carriage seen in Palestine for many 



PRAISE. 



449 



and talks, and sights, and thoughts, of that pleasant month, 
would need another volume quite as large as this. Fare- 
well to you also, glorious Jerusalem ! 

At Alexandria once more we launched the Eob Eoy to 
embark her on board the " Delta," bound for home. Far- 
ther out, and tossing in a gallant breeze, was the " Ari- 
adne" frigate, the sea-home of our Commodore, and of 
that fair Princess who has won from all Englishmen the 
hardest thing to win, our affectionate regard. 

The waves tossed angry and boisterous, as the Eob Eoy 
ran out among the sharks to salute the man-of-war. 

The crew clustered thick in the rigging of the stately frig- 
ate, and cheered the tiny consort with good-will. " Turn 
round before the wind," they cried, "and show how you 
can go." 

It was a moment both of pride and of fear to me: pride 
in the craft that could finish such a voyage, fear lest the 
finish was to be in a capsize. 

But the Eob Eoy blithely turned upon a wave-top and 
flew along the foam, and carried safe through all her little 
flag, and a heart that beat high with grateful praise to Him 
who had vouchsafed to me thus to enjoy the happiest days 
of a very happy life. 

hundred years, on the new and wretched road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, in 
June, 1868. 

F F 



APPENDIX. 



I. 

The Canoe, 

In " The Rob Roy in the Baltic," a full description is given with 
wood-cuts of the form of canoe and its fittings which succeeded so 
well on this cruise. Of course, more improvements were made be- 
fore the Eastern voyage, but in designing the last Rob Roy a new 
and difficult problem had to be solved, because this was to be a 
boat in which one could not only travel but sleep comfortably. 

Much consideration was given for months before the design was 
determined, and we shall now explain minutely the construction of 
what is in fact a little yacht, in which you can cruise over sea and 
land for a week, without getting supplies.* 

It is always best that for sleeping the boat should be drawn up on 
shore, and in lawless countries an island or some solitary place should 
be selected, as you have no guard. It is a question still whether on 
the whole a light tent is not better than the boat to sleep in. How- 
ever, we resolved to make the boat itself our comfortable bed, and 
for this it is absolutely necessary, (1.) to have a clear space of 6 feet 
6 inches in length ; (2.) to remove enough of the deck to give am- 
ple room for the knees in "turning" at night ; (3.) to place the tim- 
bers of the boat so that they do not gall the shoulders, elbows, hips, 
knees, or heels ; (4.) to have width enough at the end of your bed 
for the feet inclined sideways with hoth heels on the floor. 

This Rob Roy was therefore built round me lying down, as the 
others had been built about me sitting. Her length on deck is 14 
feet. Her floor is made longer by lessening the rake of stem and 
stern, which are more upright than in the drawing. Her greatest 
beam, 26 inches, is not on deck, but 3 inches below, so that her up- 
per streak "topples in" amidships, but flanges out fore and aft. 
" Every body " said this would look ugly, but " nobody " now could 
find out the difference, unless by measurement. The lines thus al- 

* Although some hundred canoes have been built within the last three 
years, I do not know one builder who will build a canoe reasonably com- 
plete, without constant personal supervision. 



452 



APPENDIX. 



tered made the canoe stow more, sail better, and rise to her seas more 
lively. On the other hand, she is much harder to work in rapids 
and crooked water, and to drag and to beach on shore. Her gar- 
board-streaks incline downward, so that on a flat shore their seams 
are nearly as low as the keel, which projects less than an inch out- 
side. 

The burdens or floor-boards are in four pieces, so made as to form 
a floor of 6 feet long, and thus support the whole body of the sleeper. 
They may also be placed above the well, as a round arched cover, 
exactly filling it up when the canoe has to be carried far. The dot- 
ted lines in the wood-cut at p. 139 show the well thus inclosed. The 
weight of the Rob Roy, with paddle, masts, and sails, is 72 lbs. 

To form an open space for sleeping in, I arranged the well so that 
the beam should be where my body needed most width, and the 
well is therefore 6 inches longer than is required for sitting in. The 
fore part of it is half of a hexagon, each side of which is one foot 
long. 

The " apron" is of course the most difficult of all canoe matters to 
settle satisfactorily. 

I tried every feasible plan suggested by others or by myself,* and 
finally resolved upon the plan which has borne without injury the 
wear and tear of a whole year's work. 

The apron of the Rob Roy is of light white water-proof, a present 
from a " clerical canoeist," who has lately been paddling with a mon- 
key on board, until jacko went up the mast and upset the canoe and 
drowned himself f The apron is fixed on the hexagonal front of 
the well by a simple and clever device of the builder, and it is kept 
up by a bit of cane arched over the knees. When this is removed 
(in two seconds), the apron lies flat — there is no coaming whatever on 
the sides. 

The edges of the apron are fastened at each side by a single but- 
ton-hole to a round stud 3 inches below deck outside the gunwale. 
This has never cut nor worn out, but it would instantly burst if 
an upset required all hands to debark. 

The after edge of the apron is threaded on an elastic band devised 
by the Rev. J. Macdonna, of the C. C, and an excellent plan, and thus 
it lies close to one's chest, and is yet easy and slack, being supported 
on a breast button of my coat. The painter is fast at each end to 
the cleat on deck near each knee, and is rove through the stem- 

* A wooden hatch, after a month's trial in 1867, had been discarded. Cer- 
tainly, for the Eastern trip, it would have been useless, though for common 
work it has many recommendations. 

t Of the human members of our Canoe Club, more than 200 in number, 
not one has been drowned in the many long voyages over Europe, Asia, 
Africa, America, and Australia. 



THE CANOE. 



453 



post — ^not the stem. In heavy weather, by putting the painter under 
the apron stud, and over the edge of the apron, but lower down 
than the beading of the upper streak, the apron is bound close to 
the gunwale, and no water can come in. This plan, invented in the 
Red Sea, worked admirably ever since. The sails and mast are suf- 
ficiently described in our first chapter.* The stretcher is upon a new 
plan, very simple and successful. Instead of a board across, supported 
at each side, there are two flat thin boards, one for each foot, which 
abut on the garboard streak below, and against a carline of the deck 
above. Thus they have strong support, but are themselves very light, 
and there is a clear space between them, which can be increased in 
a moment by removing one of them, when a large bag can be passed 
in forward, and its neck can always be reached while sitting in the 
boat. My heels rest on the bare garboard streaks, thus gaining at 
least an inch more of inclination for the shin - bones, which adds 
much to comfort when you sit for eight hours at a time. 



<! 




THE EOJJ HOY CABIN. 



Large water-proof pockets are on each side near the knees. The 
luggage consists of one cylindrical "post-ofln.ce bag" (Fig. 3. p. 455), 
2 feet long, one foot in diameter, very light, with an interior " flap 
mouth," and so made that, when closed, it may be pitched overboard, 
and nothing will get damp inside. The bag acts also as buoyant 
cargo. The other rectangular bag, 12 inches on each side, and 6 
inches broad, holds provisions and things less injured by water, and 
this is stowed just aft of the sitter, so that it can be readily reached. 
On either side of the well are stowed pistol and ammunition, brandy- 
bottle and books, large water-proof sheet and coat, the Inverness 

* The sail is the same in size and shape as in the Baltic Eob Eoy. In 
our last Club sailing-match, a simple lug-sail won the prize from all fancy 
rigs. The boom goes into a hem as well as the yard. A cord-loop at the 
end of the boom hooks on a long brass hook at the foot of the mast, so that 
the sail can be entirely detached, and stowed away without leaving your seat 
in the well. 



454 



APPENDIX. 



cape (weighing 5-1 lbs.), a water-bottle of mackintosli (Fig. 4. p. 455), 
carrying 5^ lbs., spare shoes, cork seat, topmast (part of fishing-rod), 
topsail, sponge in tin baler, mosquito-curtain, towel, fishing-net, hooks 
and lines, sounding-cord, small stores,matches, etc., and the ajDpara- 
tus for the cabin, which we shall next describe. 

To open a light boat of this sort for 6 feet 6 inches of its length, 
and at the part where there is most strain, was a novel proposal, 
and the builder doubted much, as I did myself, whether she could 
possibly bear such a mutilation without getting " hogged" or " screw- 
ed," or something worse. Careful management, however, overcame 
the difficulty entirely, and by the following means : 

Three feet of the deck aft of the back-board is in a separate piece 
from the rest, and movable. The fore end of this has on it a strong, 
curved carline, to receive the whole strain of the back-board, and 
two other lighter carlines support the rest, and are screwed to this 
shifting deck, but all those carlines are quite separate from the gun- 
wale. 

The fore carline of this movable deck has at its ends strong fiat 
hooks of iron, which go outside the gunwales, and so brace the boat 
together when the deck is in its place. The surface of the deck is 
flush with the gunwales, so its edge being inside keeps them in firm.* 
At each side of the well, flat movable boards (forming the bit of deck 
left there, and about three inches wide) take at each end into recess- 
es in the after deck and against a strong knee near the fore part of 
the well, flaps of water-proof at each side (made fast outside under a 
half-inch beading one inch below the level of the gunwale) fold in- 
ward and cover the joints. 

Now, to rig up our cabin for the night, we haul the Rob Roy on 
shore, and work her backward and forward in the ground until she 
is firmly bedded, and this is most important for a good night's rest. 
Next we remove the two flat pieces last described, and set them up- 
right near the fore part of the well, as shown at a d in the drawing, 
p. 453, which is on the scale of a quarter of an inch to the foot. A 
light bamboo cane is tied across these near the top. On this we lay 
the paddle, and its other blade rests on the solid piece of deck astern, 
and so forms our roof-tree, Next, the movable deck is placed on the 
paddle, so that its wider end projects forward to cover the sleeper's 
head. Over all, the water-proof sheet is thrown (shown in dotted 
lines), and tucked in between the canoe and the ground, or is weight- 
ed with stones, or tied down on the windward side if the night is not 
calm. 

Aft of the back-board and above the movable deck, when afloat, 

* That this deck should have kept perfectly sound, unwarped, and un- 
broken, through so many trials, is wonderful, but the piece of cedar was 
well chosen for its duties, and well seasoned. 



THE CANOE. 



455 



there is a loose sheet of water-proof made fast along its edges by the 
beading below the gunwale outside, and which generally lies fold- 
ed on the deck and covers it neatly, being kept in shape by the top 
joint of the fishing-rod that lies along one of its folds. For the night 
the paddle, being inside of the mackintosh covermg, supports it with 
an inclined roof on each side, represented by dotted lines, Mobile the 
edges are perfectly secure.* 

The mosquito-net has now^ to be inserted, and then we light the 
little reading-lamp — which Hjou it would take too long to describe 
accurately — and fasten it on the starboard upright, so as to be 6 inch- 
es from my left ear when reclining, and thus to throw a good light 
in front for reading. 

The pillow is, of course, our clothes-bag, and for a bed there is an 
air-cushion, shown in our sketch, 3 feet long and 14 inches broad, with 
ribs across it so made that it will not 




size has been ridiculed, but if you try. 



you will find that, when the shoulders 

and hips are supported, the rest of the body needs no bed at all, ex- 
cept the head, which has a pillow, and the heels which can rest on 
a roll of the topsail. 

Several canoeists have used wheels with much satisfaction where 
the canoe has to be frequently taken across some beaten path — as 
when it is kept in a house near a river or lake, and the wheels can 
be left at an assigned place. 

But in my journeys I had found that out of each thousand miles 
not one mile would have been helped by wheels. However, as the 
use of them was strongly urged, and possibly it might help on this 
tour, I made a number of experiments, and finally reducecl the size 
and weight so as to be very small, as represented in the sketch, page 
456. These wheels are conical, made of wood, hollowed at the cen- 
tres, and with light brass tires, and fixed on a steel axle, which turns 
in a strong brass piece (b). Above this is a grooved piece of wood, 
into which the keel {a) will fit, and without any tying or fastening, 

* This plan may be improved upon. It creates trouble in removing and 
replacing- the deck, and I think that one water-proof sheet would do for 
the whole roof, while the declc aft might have a projecting ledge above the 
gunwale, to cover the joint, which, however, at worst, would let in only a 
little water. The paddle has been often used in two pieces, with a ferrule 
to unite them. This is convenient, especially for sailing, but I grudge the 
additional weight even of an ounce. Letters and "patents" about paddle- 
blades set at right angles have come often to me during the last five years. 



456 



APPENDIX. 



The diameter of the wheels is 4i 
inches, and they weigh 2 lbs. The 
plan answered well on trial, and I 
carried the wheels all the way 
round, and never had one single 
occasion for using them ! The fact 
is, in real canoeing, that is, in wild 
and unknown lands, you find no 
smooth roads to wheel a boat upon, 
CANOE-WHEELS. or If thcrc are roads, you can always 

get a man to help in carrying the 
boat ; while on rocks, shingle, and jungle, no wheels would help you, 
and on grass, or earth, or sand, the boat can be dragged along. 

Before going to bed in our cabin, our supper has to be cooked by 
the "canoe-cuisine," which has been fully described, with diagrams, 
in " The-Voyage Alone in the Rob Roy Yawl " (Low, Fleet Street) ; 
and as this invaluable " paddler's kitchen " may be had at Hepburn's, 
93 Chancery Lane, London, I need not further exiDlain its manifold 
virtues here.* 

In. the East one can often manage to get fowls cooked before start- 
ing, and even eggs, so that with " Liebig's extract of meat," the es- 
sence of beef-soup (Morell's, Piccadilly), and dried fruits, there is al- 
ways a sumptuous meal, besides tea for breakfast and a tablespoonful 
of brandy to kill the animalcula in the water for dinner. Bread, how- 
ever, is the important item in travelling, and especially that it should 
keep well in cold, heat, or damp. I have still some bread that I got 
in Norway ten years ago, other bread fi'om AMca eight years old, 
biscuit which was in my Swedish journey in 1866, and neat little 
loaves (an inch on each side) that I brought from Damascus twenty 
years ago. This last kind of bread was the best of all for carrying, 
because it is portable and good. You dip the loaves in water, and 
they soften and expand. Specimens of these were shown in the Pal- 
estine Exhibition, and deservedly excited much interest. It was 
amusing to find them solemnly denounced by a little evening paper 
as " remnants of repasts," with lots of other nonsense equally false. 

What shall be done with that urchin who cries his news under a 
gas-jet in Pall Mall, and throws mud at the public because they won't 
buy his j^aper, " written by gentlemen," and sold at half-price ? Let 
him be sent to a ragged-school, and, when he has learned " manners," 
we will give him a blacking-brush in the " red brigade," that he may 
get his pennies by polishing, not pelting, the public ; for politeness 
pays better than petulance. 

* Nor is it possible, I regret, to engage to answer all correspondence on 
the subject from inquiring strangers. 




DRESS. 



457 



11. 

Dress. 

In all canoe cruises it is important to have convenient dress. You 
are exposed to lieat and cold, wind and rain, to sudden chills by the 
splash of waves and wet of leakage, by working hard and then sitting 
still for sailing or for rest, or to cook and eat. The dress must be 
comfortable, light, strong, easily carried, readily donned and doffed, 
washed, dried, mended, and increased or diminished. Four long 
voyages in different climates have given some experience in these* 
matters, so a few brief notes are inserted here for the benefit of canoe- 
ists who may paddle in hot countries. 

A straw hat is quite enough for the sun of France at its hottest, 
but it is too thin for the more tropical rays of Africa ; therefore the 
straw hat was soon discarded, and I wore the new helmet made by 
Tress, already described. The neck-shade of this is longer than the 
peak in front, and so, when the sun is on the face, by reversing the 
hat, more shade is obtained for the eyes. There is an interval be- 
tween the hat and the head all round, so as to admit cool air. On 
some occasions a " puggery " was added. A wet towel falling down 
on the shoulders and bound over the top of the head answers well in 
a breeze, but it is ■ close and heating in calm sun. This hat bore 
every accident well — rain, spray, snow, and heat, and frequent float- 
ings when knocked off in thick jungles. I strongly recommend 
Tress's hat as an excellent head-dress for riding or boating in the sun, 
expensive, but not dear. 

" Flannel always and everywhere, and all flannel," is the maxim for 
health. I had two "JN'orfolk jackets" of fine gray flannel ; one can 
go over the other for a great-coat. They last so well that one of 
these has been through all four cruises, and it will do again. No 
wonder the tailors who made it remarked, " That will be good for 
your business, and bad for ours," 

The paddler must put up with wet elbows for his coat; but the 
inside jersey ought to have short arms, so as to be dry. 

A woven sleeveless vest is most useful, as you can slip it on when 
sailing. Wlien it was desirable to be easily seen at a great distance, 
I wore a white night-shirt or a red jersey outside. 

A silk Syrian scarf, of the largest size, was always wrapt about my 
loins. This is invaluable as preserving the heat of the body. It can 
be loosened in the boat and in the tent, but it should never be put 
off out of doors if once it is habitually worn. On the passage home 
it can be cautiously replaced by flannel, which may be gradually re- 
duced each week. 

Trowsers very long at the feet (and turned up usually) allow you to 
tie them over your shoes when dozing on the shore in midday hours, 



458 



APPENDIX. 



and so to puzzle the flies, who think it great fun to bite through 
socks, however thick. 

Gloves are also useful for the same occasions, and a long piece of 
gauze net, six feet square, tied over the face, made pleasant sleep 
on the grass or the sand of an island quite enjoyable. 

A water-proof white sheet, six feet by tive, the cover of my 
canoe when used to sleep in, was very useful to spread on wet sand 
for a couch, or tied round the waist to cover the legs on horse- 
back, or stretched inside the tent over my bed in a furious storm of 
rain. 

Boots are well enough for riding (worn outside the trowsers), 
but are too hot for the canoe. They should be very roomy, and 
thus they will not do for walking. I used a pair bought at Con- 
stantinoj^le in 1849. The pleasant freedom of light easy shoes or 
slippers, when aboard your boat, amply repays the weight and bother 
of carrjdng them. Strong shoes, however, must be carried to be 
ready for shingle or jungle, or for a long trudge and towing the boat. 
A pair of the new seamless india-rubber half-boots were found most 
useful in wet grass or swampy shores, 

A nightcap is necessary for sleejoing in, as there are draughts in 
the " state cabin for it will not do to close it entirely. My sou'- 
wester was useful as a bag, and sometimes upon my head in rain and 
in steamboats, etc. 

For rain, either afloat or ashore, I found the best j)rotector was a 
long white (better stuft' than black) india-rubber coat. Yet all such 
coats with sleeves are too hot to paddle in, unless very slowly, and a 
better plan was a cape, short near the arms and buttoned before or 
behind, according as the wind was from aft or ahead. The arms of 
the canoeist up to the elbow can only be kept dry by water-proof 
sleeves, but these should not form part of the coat. 

At Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo, one collar and ribbon was 
quite enough, and the rest could be left off after the voyage out. At 
Alexandria you can get all such miserable furniture again for the re- 
turn voyage. 

For warmth I had a large soft thick dark hooded Inverness cape 
made 18 inches larger than the " largest size," so as to touch my 
shoes. The comfort and benefit of this could not be overrated. 
When riding in the cutting breeze over snow, it covered all down to 
the stirrups; sitting in the raw air of dawn, it kept all draught from 
one's limbs ; lying in the canoe at night, it was sheet, blanket, and 
coverlet; reclining on sand or grass by day, or sitting to sail in cool 
evening breezes, it kept out the sun, and dew, and cold ; and in the 
tent it was a comfortable dressing-gown to write in, again reclining, 
for to sit upright in the East is absurd, and the bed becomes an 
easy-chair. After all, this useful garment served as an addition to 



CANOE GEAR AND STORES. 



459 



the bed-clothes dnring sleep, and next morning it was rolled up, like 
a soldier's great-coat, and strapped on my saddle. 

An mnbrella, with a white cover to it, may almost be included 
among " dress," at least for the hot months.* Spectacles of neutral 
tint (large size the best) give comfort to the eyes in the sun, and 
when you remove them, say at 4 p.m., the daylight seems to begin 
again, being about the same as it looked at noon, when seen through 
the glasses. 

The list of " canoe-stores " is given below. 



III. 

Canoe Gear and Stores. 

A. Gear^ etc. — Masts, Sails, Wheels, Canoe-cuisine, Compass, Cork 
seat. Painter, Air-bed, Mosquito-curtains, Pistol and charges. Lamp, 
Canoe-bag, Rob Roy bag, Water-proof sheets, Water-bottle, Fishing- 
things, Net, Rod, Flies, Hooks and lines. Flag, Sponge, Baler, Spare 
paddle-rings. Plug, Lens, Long knife. Cane, Blocks, Wax-end, Tools, 
Nails, Screws, Wire, Spare rope and cord, Marine glue. Putty, Filter. 

B. Dress. — Pith hat. Woven cap, Norfolk jacket (2), Woven vest. 
Silk scarf, Socks (2), Flannel trowsers (2), Flannel shirts (2), Under 
vests (2), Cape and hood, Sou'wester, Shoes, Mackintosh coat. Water- 
proof boots. Slippers, Brushes and comb. Scissors, needle, pins, and 
thread. Umbrella. 

C. Food^ etc. — Liebig's extract (2), Arrowroot, Tea, Beef-essence, 
Methylated spirits, James's jDowder, Insect-powder, Bread, Eggs, 
Fowls, Pudding, Figs, Oranges, Quinine, Gregory's mixture, Lint, 
Brandy, Plaster, Wax matches, Fuzees, Chibouque. 

D. Cargo. — Books, Maps, Papers, Guide-book, Album, Note-book, 
Ink, Pencils, Penknife, Magnesium wire. Drawing - things, Presents, 
Money. 

lY. 

Yoyage of Molyneux on the Jordan in 1847. 

Although the Rob Roy is the first traveller's boat recorded as hav- 
ing navigated the Upper Jordan, there were two previous boat expe- 
ditions u23on the Sea of Galilee and the Lower Jordan and Dead 
Sea. 

* The French officers at Port Said had adopted a hat very like a parasol, 
the top being distant from the liead of tlie wearer several inches all round, 
and connected by three wires to a leather bag, which goes on the temples. 



460 



APPENDIX. 



The first of these was by Lieutenant Molyneux, of H.M.S. " Spar- 
tan," in 1847, and the other by Lieutenant Lynch, of the United 
States Navy, in 1848, who wrote a careful and interesting report, 
which is published and well known. The voyage of Molyneux was 
narrated in a paper read before the Geographical Society on March 
28, 1848, and printed in their Journal, vol. xviii. p. 104. 

This tells us how he transported the ship's "dinghy" (a small 
boat) from Beyrout to Tiberias by camels, and from thence he start- 
ed on August 23, 1847, with five men, two of them English. They 
did not examine the lake, but passed at once southward to begin the 
Jordan. We have condensed the following brief notes of their voy- 
age: 

Molyneux judged the size of the lake to be eighteen miles long 
and eight or nine wide. He found the hot springs at Tiberias about 
130° F. For seven hours after the "broken bridge" (a mile from 
the lake), they "scarcely ever had sufficient water to swim the boat 
for a hundred yards together." On the 26th he had to carry the 
boat on camels alongside the river before reaching the Jisr Mejamia, 
and after that for a great part of the time he was on the bank and 
frequently out of sight of the boat, which had four men to pull her 
and one to steer. On the 30th, just below the junction with the Zer- 
ka, she was attacked by fifty Arabs, who fired shots and then cap- 
tured her, and took the men away. 

Two Arabs brought the boat on to Jericho. On the 3d of Septem- 
ber Molyneux embarked in her on the Dead Sea with " Toby " (a 
guide from Tiberias), and a Greek from Jerusalem. He sailed south 
from 6 P.M. until 2 30 a.m. on the 4th, and, after sailing about contin- 
ually, landed at noon on the 5th. They shot some birds standing in 
the water, and saw others flying overhead when in the middle of the 
sea. They noticed a strip of foam north and south, beginning west 
of the Jordan's mouth and extending the whole length of the sea, 
" constantly bubbling and in motion like a stream that runs rapidly 
through a lake of still water, while nearly over this white track, dur- 
ing both the . nights that we were on the water, we observed in the 
sky a white streak, like a cloud, extending also in a straight line from 
north to south, and as far as the eye could reach. On the 8th the 
boat arrived at Jerusalem." 

Mr. Finn, then consul at Jerusalem, kindly aided Molyneux, and he 
tells us the rest of the story in " Under the Crown " for May, 1869. 
The end of it was as follows: "At my farewell greeting I congratu- 
lated him on being so much recovered in health. He answered, 
' This is temporary, during the excitement ; wait till I get on board, 
then I shall catch it ' — a prophecy, alas ! too true. They arrived at 
Jaffa with the boat, as sound as ever, and the crew set up three cheers 
on her mounting the deck, and vowed she would never be washed 



ALTITUDES. 



461 



again, but keep her slime of the Dead Sea as a memorial. They re- 
joined the ' Spartan ' on September 8. On reaching the station at 
Beyrout, fever seized its noble victim, and on the 3d of October Moly- 
neux died." 



Altitudes ACCORDma to Authorities relied upon by Vande- 

VELDE. 

I.— Those in Connection with the Jordan. 

Feet above 
the Sea level. 

Kefr Kuk Cbasm north of Wady et Teim). 3,500 

Lake Phiale 3,304 

Hasbeya town 2,160 

(1) Hasbeya source of the Jordan 1,700 

Ford below 1,654 

Khan below...,.,.,.,...,... , 1,619 

(2) Banias source of the Jordan 1,200 

(3) Dan source of the Jordan 647 

Jisr el Ghujar (Roth) 346 

Ain Belata (by estimation) , 220 

Hooleh marsh .... , - . 180 

Jisr Benat Yacoub 90 

Feet below 
the Sea-level. 

Templars' keep near the Jordan [estimated by J. M.] 0 

Lake of Genesareth (Lynch), (greatest depth 160 feet) 653 

Dead Sea 1,292 

Dead Sea, greatest depth (Lynch, 1308 ; Moore and Beke, 
1800) 3,092 

II.— Other Rivers. 
Abana River. 

Feet above 
the Sea-level. 

Sources near Zebedany (Porter) 3,608 

Fall at Suk Barada (Russegger) 3,566 

Damascus (mean of 6) 2,400 

Pharpar. 

Sasa (Schubert). 2,973 

Kishon. 

Plain of Esdraelon (where drained) 100 

III, — Mountains and other Places mentioned in the Book. 

Feet above 
the Sea-level. 

Lebanon, Jebel el Meskyeh 10,061 

Harmon (Mansell) 9,053 



4:62 



APPENDIX. 



III. — Mountains and other Places mentioned in the Book — 



Co}iti7i.ued. 

Feet above 
the Sea-level. 

Lebanon, Jebel Sinnin 8,162 

Dimes (Allen) 3,825 

Zahleh (Russegger) 3,090 

Jerusalem 2,642 

Damascus 2,400 

Highest between Jordan and Litany (De Forest) 2,300 

Banias (Subeibeli Castle), by estimation 2,200 

Tell et Hara 2,198 

Mount Tabor (Mansell) 2,017 

Carmel (highest point) 1,861 

Nazareth (Roth) 1,265 

Kurn Hattin 1,191 

Jisr Burghuz 1,186 

Gamala ruins . , . .- 1,170 

Kades 500 



YI. 

Schools and Missions. 

Besides tlie institutions referred to already, the following may be 
noticed : 

At Jaffa tliere is a yery interesting little scliool, conducted by a 
young lady, aided by friends in England. Several visits to the insti- 
tution made me admire it more and more each time. The children 
of Jaffa are in a horrid dirty poky hole of a town, and it must be 
charming for them to go to a school where bright smiles await them, 
and the happy teaching of a loving heart. Jews, Turks, and Franks, 
all partake of this blessing in the very jDlace where Peter was taught 
that the GosiDel was meant for us all. The children are delighted to 
see a visitor, and as very many travellers j)ass through Jaffa, it may 
be a new pleasure to them to look in at the Jaffa school. 

The following information has been recently published regarding a 
most important and extensive educational work : 

Society for Promoting Female Education in tTie East. 

For thirty-five years this Society has pursued the special object 
with valuable results. With an income of about £3000 a year, it has 
been engaged for thu-ty-five years in a large field of labor. It sup- 
plies £800 in salaries to its own missionary teachers at Hong Kong, 
Singapore, Calcutta, Cuttack, Piplee, Secundra, SieiTa Leone, Shem- 
lan (on Mount Lebanon), Sidon, and JsTazareth ; also grants and school 
materials over the field of Protestant missions in the East. The es- 



SCHOOLS AND MISSIONS. 



463 



timated value of ladies' work and clothing sent abroad for sale dur- 
ing the past year is more than £5000. Twenty-one additional schools 
are needed : twenty-seven additional native teachers are ready for 
employment. Two ladies are leaving England for Zenana work in 
India. 

Further information will be gladly supplied by Miss Webb, 267 
Vauxhall Bridge Koad, London. 

Extracts from a Speech of the Bishop of Jerusalem at a Meeting in 
London in July^ 1869. 

" I first visited Palestine about forty years ago, when there was no 
Bible to be found either among the Jews or the Christians, or the 
Mohammedans — the deepest ignorance, darkness, superstition, and 
vice characterized all the inhabitants of that land at that period. 
With respect to the Jews, 160 adults have been baptized in Jerusa- 
lem, whilst a number of the younger Jews have received the first 
germs of the truth of the Gospel, and been sent away from Jerusalem 
by their Mends and the rabbis, to remove them from the influence of 
the missionaries. There are now very few Jewish families in Jerusa- 
lem who do not possess a copy of the Old Testament, at least, and a 
great number have the New Testament, which they read amongst 
theu' friends. Whilst forty-two years ago the Jews, taught from the 
Talmud, believed it to be theu' duty, whenever the name of the Lord 
Jesus of Nazareth was mentioned, to curse that name and blaspheme, 
there are now very few who would do 'so. We every day meet with 
some who confess that Jesus was a good and righteous man, and that 
their forefathers were wrong in persecutmg Him. In Jerusalem and 
the places around, our missionaries m the course of a few weeks dis- 
pose of large numbers of copies of the Scriptures. With resjDcct to 
Roman Catholics, Armenians, Copts, and others, forty-two years ago 
the priests and laity were ignorant of th.e Christian religion. There 
was not a single Christian school belonging to any denomination in 
the whole of Palestine. We now have twenty-four Protestant schools, 
containing about 1000 children — Druses, Mohammedans, and Jews — 
who are taught the Word of God. Of these twenty-four schools, four - 
teen are under my charge. The people are not able to pay for the 
education, even were they willing ; but they are becoming willing. 
After the Roman priests had endeavored to prevent the parents from 
sending their children to our schools, the Greek Patriarch gave us a 
Bible school. Finding their excommunication unsuccessful, they be- 
gan to open schools wherever I had succeeded in opening one, so that 
for every one of our schools there are two others. They do not teach 
the Bible, yet when the children begin to read, we give them the 
pure Word of God. When the children repeat i3assages, their pa- 



464: 



APPENDIX. 



rents often request them to read out of the Word of God. Almost 
everywhere there are more children in my one school than in the 
Greek and Roman Catholic schools put together. In Abyssinia about 
6000 copies of the Scriptures have been given away ; a number of the 
Jews and others are reading the Bible there. When I first went to 
J erusalem, there was only one native Protestant ; we have now many 
congregations of people. They obtain no temporal benefit whatever 
from becoming Protestants : on the contrary, they have every thing 
against them." 

Postscript. — On Sunday, November 14, 1869, Mrs. Bowen Thomp- 
son, the foundi-ess of the Syrian schools,- died at Blackheath. 



YII. 



Itinerary est Syria, Palestine, and Egypt 
1868, to April, 1869. 



Egypt 



Stria 



Palestine . , 



FROM October, 



The dates denote where the Rob Roy stopped each night. 
October 9, Southampton ; 10-22, " Tanjore" steamer. 

October 23-26, Alexandria; 27, Steamer "Tage;" 28, 29, 
Port Said ; 30, Ras el Esh ; 31, November 1, 2, Kantara ; 
3, El Guisr; 4, Ismailia; 5, Lake Timsah; 6, Ismailia; 
7, 8, Rameses; 9, Serapeion ; 10, Zag-a-Zig; 11, Chalouf; 
12-15, Suez; 16, 17, Ain Moosa; 18, Suez; 19, 20, Cairo; 
21-23, Boulak; 24, Barrage; 25, an island; 26, Benha; 
27, Zifteh ; 28, 29, Mansourah ; 30, Berimbal ; December 

1, Menzaleh ; 2, Mushra ; 3, Zoan ; 4r-7, Port Said ; 8, 9, 

- Steamer " Tibre." 

December 10-13, Beyrout; 14, Lebanon; 15, Mejdel; 16, 
El Hameh ; 17, 18, Doomar ; 19-21, Damascus ; 22, Jis- 
rin ; 23, El Keisa ; 24, 25, Abana mouth ; 26-28, Hijaneh ; 
29, Nejha ; 30, Brak ; 31, Adalyeh ; January 1, Damascus ; 

2, 3, Dimes ; 4, Rukleh ; 5, Bekafyeh ; 6, Jordan source ; 
7, 8, Ford; 9, 10, Khau. 

- January 11-13, Tell el Kady ; 14, Mansourah ; 15, Salhyeh 
tent; 16, 17, Melalia; 18, Almanyeh ; 19, Matarieh; 20, 
Jisr Tacob ; 21, Julias plain ; 22-25, Tell Hoom ; 26, 
Ain et Tin ; 27, 28, Tiberias ; 29-31, Kerak ; February 1, 
Magdala; 2, Kefr Kenna; 3, Maloolah; 4, Kishon; 5, 
Jelami; 6, 7, Haifa; 8, Acre; 9, Russian Steamer ; 10,11, 
Beyrout ; 12, Austrian steamer ; 13, 14, Joppa ; 15, Ram- 
leh ; February 16 to March 17, Jerusalem [four days Dead 

. Sea] ; March 18-21, Joppa ; 22-24, French steamer. 

Egypt March 25-26, Alexandria. 

March 27 to April 8, Steamer " Delta;" 9, Southampton. 



THE END. 



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COLERIDGE'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Complete Works of Samtiel Tajrloc 
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DOOLITTLE'S CHINA. Social Life of the Chinese : with some Account of their Re- 
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special but not exclusive Reference to Fuhchau. By Rev. Justus Doolittle, 
Fourteen Years Member of the Fuhchau Mission of the American Board, Illus- 
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Cloth, $5 00, 

GIBBON'S ROME. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Ed- 
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of the Author. 6 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $9 00. 

HAZEN'S SCHOOL AND ARMY IN GERMANY AND FRANCE. The School 
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Harper &* Bt'others' Valuable and Interesting Works. 5 



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The following Volumes are now ready. Portraits. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50 each. 

C^SAB. — ViEGlL. — SaLLUST. — HoRACE.— CiCERO'S OeATIO^<S.— ClOEEO'S OFFICESt 

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SoPuocLES. — Juvenal. — Xenophon. — Homer's Iliad. — Homer's Odyssey. — 
Herodotus. — Demosthenes. — Thucydides. — .^schylus.— Euripides (2 vols.). 
— LivY (2 vols.). 

DAVIS'S CARTHAGE. Carthage and her Remains : being an Account of the Exca- 
vations and Researches on the Site of the Phoenician Metropolis in Africa and other 
adjacent Places. Conducted under the Auspices of Her Majesty's Government. 
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EDGE WORTH'S (Miss) NOVELS. With Engravings. 10 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $15 00. 

GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE. 12 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $18 00. 

HELPS'S SPANISH CONQLTIST. The Spanish Conquest in America, and its Rela- 
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3ALE'S (Mrs.) WOMAN'S RECORD. Woman's Record ; or, Biographical Sketches 
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HALL'S ARCTIC RESEARCHES. Arctic Researches and Life among the Esqui- 
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HILDRETH'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. First Series : From the 
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HUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. History of^:ngland, from the Invasion of Ju- 
lius Cfesflr to the Abdication of James IL, 16SS. By David Hume. A new Edi- 
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JAY'S WORKS. Complete Works of Rev. William Jay : comprising his Sennons, 
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JEFFERSON'S DOMESTIC LIFE. The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson : com- 
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JOHNSON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. With 
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KINGLAKE'S CRIMEAN WAR. The Invasion of the Crimea, and an Account of 
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KINGSLEY'S WEST INDIES. At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. By 
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6 Harper 6n Brothers' Valuable and Interesting Works. 



KRUMMACHER'S DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. David, the King of Israel : a Por- 
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LAMB'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Charles Lamb. Comprising his Let- 
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LIVINGSTONE'S SOUTH AFRICA. Missionary Travels and Researches in Soiith 
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and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loando on the West Coast ; thencu 
across the Continent, down the River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. By Davi]> 
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LIVINGSTONES' ZAMBESI. Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its 
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By David and Cuables Livingstone. With Map and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, 
$5 00. 

M'CLINTOCK & STRONG'S CYCLOPEDIA. Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, 
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$5 00 ; Sheep, $6 00 ; Half Morocco, $S 00. 

MARCY'S army life on THE BORDER. Thirty Years of Army Life on the 
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MACAULAY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The History of England from the Ac- 
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MOSHEIM'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Ancient and Modern ; in which the 
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rope during that Period. Translated, with Notes, &c., by A. Maolatne, D.D. 
A new Edition, continued to 1826, by C. Coote, LL.D. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $4 00. 

NEVIUS'S CHINA. China and the Chinese: a General Description of the Country 
and its Inhabitants ; its Civilization and Form of Government ; its Religious and 
Social Institutions ; its Intercourse with other Nations ; and its Pre-ent Condition 
and Prospects. By the Rev. John L. Nevius, Ten Years a Missionary in China. 
With a Map and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. 

THE DESERT OF THE EXODUS. Journeys on Foot in the Wilderness of the 
Forty Years' Wanderings; undertaken in connection with the Ordnance Survey 
of Sinai and the Palestine Exploration Fund. By E. H. Palmer, M.A., Lord 
Almoner's Professor of Arabic, and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
With Maps and numerous Illustrations from Photographs and Drawings taken 
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Svo, Cloth, $3 00. 

OLIPHANT'S CHINA AND JAPAN. Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to 
China and Japan, in the Years 1S5T, '5S, '59. By Laurence Oliphant, Private 
Secretary to Lord Elgin. Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50. 

OLIPHANT'S (Mrs.) LIFE OF EDWARD IRVING. The Life of Edward Irving, 
Minister of the National Scotch Church, Lond(m. Illustrated by his Journals and 
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RAWLINSON'S MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY. A Manual of Ancient His- 
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the' History of Chaldsea, Assvria, Media, Babylonia, Lydia, Phoenicia, Syria, Ju- 
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Geo'rge^Rawlinson, M.A., Camden Professor of Ancient History in the Umver- 
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Harper 6^ Brothers' Valuable and Interesting Works. 7 



RECLUS'S THE EARTH. The Earth : a Descriptive History of the Phenomena 
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23 Page Maps printed in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00. 

RECLUS'S OCEAN. The Ocean, Atmosphere, and Life. Being the Second Series 
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8vo, Cloth, $6 00. 

SHAKSPEARE. The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare, with the Correc- 
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SMILES'S LIFE OF THE STEPHENSONS. The Life of George Stephenson, and 
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SMILES'S HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS. The Huguenots : their Settlements, 
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SPEKE'S AFRICA. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. By Cap- 
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STRICKLAND'S (Miss) QUEENS OF SCOTLAND. Lives of the Queens of Scot- 
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THE STUDENT'S SERIES. 

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Gibbon. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

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Hume. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Rome. By Liddell. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Old Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

New Testament History. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, |2 00. 

Strickland's Queens of England. Abridged. Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Ancient History of the East. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Hallam's Middle Ages. 12mo, Cloth, |2 00. 

Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

Lyell's Elements of Geology. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 

TENNYSON'S COMPLETE POEMS. The Complete Poems of Alfred Tennyson, 
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THOMSON'S LAND AND THE BOOK. The Land and the Book ; or. Biblical 
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of the Holy Land. By W. M. Thomson, D.D., Twenty-five Years a Missionary 
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TYERMAN'S WESLEY. The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., 
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TYERMAN'S OXFORD METHODISTS. The Oxford Methodists : Memoirs of the 
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vXMBfiRY'S CENTRAL ASIA. Travels in Central Asia. Being the Account of 
a Journey from Teheran across the Turkoman Desert, on the Eastern Shore of 
the Caspian, to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand, performed in the Year 1863. 
By Arminius VXmb^ry, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Pesth, by whom 
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WOOD'S HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. Homes Without Hands: being a Descrip- 
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